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ITS  ItEffiONIO  THE  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT 


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THE   POPES. 


Date 
Elect. 

or 
Consc. 


41 

67 

79 

91 

100 

109 

119 

128 

138 

142 

157 

168 

177 

190 


Name  of  Pope. 


B.  Petrus. 
St.  Linus. 
St.  Cletus. 
St.  Clemens  I. 
St.  Evarlstus. 
St.  Alexander. 
St.  Sixtus. 
St.  Telesphorus. 
St.  Hyglnus. 
St.  Pius. 
St.  Anicetus. 
St.  Soter. 
St.  Eleutherus. 
Sft  Victor  I. 


Date 
Elect. 

or 
Consc. 


202 
218 
222 
230 
235 
236 
251 
253 
254 
257 
259 
269 
275 
283 


Name  of  Pope. 


St.  Zephyrinus. 
St.  Calixtus  I. 
St.  Urbanus  I. 
St.  Pontianus. 
St.  Anterus. 
St.  Fabianus. 
St.  Cornelius. 
St.  Lucius. 
St.  Stephanus  I. 
St.  Sixtus  II. 
St.  Dionysius. 
St.  Felix  I. 
St.  Eutychianus. 
St.  Caius. 


Date 
Elect. 

or 
Consc. 


296 
307 
309 
310 
314 
336 
337 
352 
366 
384 
398 
402 
417 
418 


Name  of  Pope. 


St. 

yt. 
st. 

St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 
St. 


Marcelllnus 

Marcellus. 

Eusebius. 

Melchiades. 

Sylvester. 

Marcus. 

Julius  I. 

Liberius. 

Damasus. 

Sirlcius. 

Anastasius  I. 

Innocentius  I. 

Zoismus. 

Boniiacius  I. 


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THE  LIBRARIES 


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16 

34 

12 

52 

62 

70 

78 

78 

94 

89 

04 

06 

09 

10 

17 

31 

47 


Name  of  Pope. 


Date 
Elect. 

or 
Consc , 


422 
432 
440 
461 
468 
483 
492 
496 
498 
514 
523 
526 
530 
532 


Name  of  Pope. 


St.  Codestinus  I. 
St.  Sixtus  III. 
St.  Leo  I. 
St.  Hilarus. 
St.  Slmplicius. 
St.  Felix  III. 
St.  Gelasius. 
St.  Anastasius  II. 
St.  Symmachus. 
St.  Hormisdas. 
St.  Joannes  I. 
St.  Felix  IV. 
Bonlfacius  II. 
Joannes  II. 


55 


Gelasius  II. 
Calixtus  II. 
Honorius  II. 
Innocentius  II. 
Coelestinus  II. 
Lucius  II. 
Eugenius  III. 
Anastasius. 
Hadrianus  IV. 
Alexander  III. 
Lucius  III. 
Urbanus  III. 
Gregorius  VIII. 
Clemens  III. 
Coelestinus  III. 
Innocentius  III. 
Honorius  III. 
Gregorius  IX. 
Coelestinus  IV. 

Innocentius  IV. 

Alexander  IV 

Urbanus  IV. 

Clemens  IV. 

Gregorius  X. 

Innocentius  V. 

Hadrianus  V. 

Joannes  XXI. 

Nicolaus  III. 

Martinus  IV. 

Honorius  IV. 

Nicolaus  IV. 

St.  Coelestinus  V 

Bonlfacius  VIII. 

Benedictus  XI. 

Clemens  V. 

Joannes  XXII. 

Benedictus  XII. 

Clemens  VI. 

Innocentius  VI. 

Urbanus  V. 

Gregorius  XI. 

Urbanus  VI. 

Clemens  VII. 

Benedictus  XIII. 

Bonifacius  IX. 

Innocentius  VII. 

Gregorius  XII. 

Alexander  V. 

Joannes  XXIII. 

Martinus  V. 

Eugenius  IV. 

Nicolaus  V. 

ICalixtus  III. 


Date 
Elect. 

or 
Consc 


1458 

1404 

1471 

1484 

1492 

1503 

lr,03 

1513 

1522 

1523 

1534 

1550 

1555 

1555 

1559 

1565 

1572 

1585 

1590 

1590 

1591 

1592 

1605 

1605 

1621 

1623 

1644 

1655 

1667 

1670 

1676 

1689 

1691 

1700 

1721 

1724 

1730 

1740 

1758 

1769 

1775 

1800 

1823 

1829 

1831 

1846 

1877 

1903 

1914 

1922 


Name  of  Pope. 


Pius  II. 
Paulus  II. 
Sixtus  IV. 
Innocentius  VIII. 
Alexander  VI. 
Pius  III. 
Julius  II. 
Leo  X. 

Hadrianus  VI. 
Clemens  VII. 
Paulus  III. 
Julius  III. 
Marcellus  II. 
Paulus  IV. 
Pius  IV. 
St.  Pius  V. 
Gregorius  XIII. 
Sixtus  V. 
Urbanus  VII. 
Gregorius  XIV. 
Innocentius  IX. 
Clemens  VIII. 

Leo  XL 

Paulus  V. 
Gregorius  XV. 

Urbanus  VIII. 

Innocentius  X. 

Alexander  VII. 

Clemens  IX. 

Clemens  X. 

Innocentius  XI. 

Alexander  VIII. 

Innocentius  XII. 

Clemens  XL 

Innocentius  XIII. 

Benedictus  XIII. 

Clemens  XII. 

Benedictus  XIV. 

Clemens  XIII. 

Clemens  XIV. 

Pius  VI. 

Pius  VII. 

Leo  XII. 

Pius  VIII. 

Gregorius  XVI. 

Pius  IX. 

Leo  XIII. 

Pius  X. 

Benedictus  XV. 

Pius  XL 

(Born  May  30, 
1857,atDesio. 
Italy.) 


93    DAMNATION    OF    QUEEN    ELIZABETH,    et    al. 
Brutum  Fulmen:   or  the  Bull  of  Pope  Pius  V.     Concern- 
ing the  Damnation,  Excommunication,  and  Deposition  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  as  also  the  Absolution  of  her  Subjects 
from  their  Oath  of  Allegiance  with  a  peremptory  injunc- 
tion upon  pain  of  Anathema,  never  to   obey  any  of  her 
Laws  or  Commands.     By  Thomas  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
Whereunto  is  annexed  the  Bull  of  Pope  Paul  the  Third 
containing    the    Damnation,    Excommunication,     etc.,    of 
Kino-  Henry  the  Eighth.    London,  Printed  by  S.  Roycroft 
for  Robert  Clavell  at  the  Peacock  in  iSt.  Paul's  Church- 
yard, 1681.  4to,  y2  calf,  margins  trimmed  from  title  and 
mounted.  $20-OU 


The 
Roman  Catholic  Church 


AND 


Its  Relation  to  the  Federal 
Government 


BY 


FRANCIS  T.   MORTON 

Member  of  the  Massachusetts  Bar 


jARTIetV6RITATI 


y         5 

- 


*  BOSTON 
RICHARD  G.  BADGER 

■■  j  lie  (i(i''hira  'Pivss 
'         '  '         1909 


Copyright  1909  by  Francis  T.  Morton 
All  Rights  Reserved 


The  Gotham  Press.  Boston,  U.  S.  A. 


1  *      I    I 

I 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

THE  object  of  this  book  is  to  give  a  brief 
history  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
its  claims,  objects,  and  purposes  in  the 
past,  as  exemplified  in  the  older  countries 
where  it  has  by  reason  of  its  practices  held  sway 
for  centuries,  and  also  to  show,  far  as  space  and 
time  admit,  its  position  in  the  United  States  of 
America  at  the  present  time,  where  the  oppor- 
tunities for  its  growth  and  expansion  have  never 
been  equalled,  by  reason  of  absolute  freedom  of 
action  and  speech  allowed  its  representatives,  the 
ignorance  of  its  votaries  and  the  public  as  well, 
who  know  little  of  its  methods  practised  for  cen- 
turies in  foreign  countries;  and  the  enormous 
influx  of  ignorant  foreigners  coming  to  our  shores, 
many  of  whom  are  Catholics.  The  first  part  of 
this  book  is  a  comprehensive  compilation  of  works 
entitled,  "  American  Text-Book  of  Popery  ;  " 
"  Mexico  and  the  United  States,"  by  G.  D. 
Abbot,  LL.D.  (G.  P.  Putnam  &  Son,  New  York), 
a  book,  as  also  Butler's  "  Mexico  in  Transition ' 
(Eaton  &  Mains,  New  York),  that  should  be  read 
by  every  one,  Catholics  and  Protestants  alike. 
"  M.  de  Talleyrand's  Famous  Reply  to  Pope  Pius 
VII ;"  "Papal  Aggression  and  Attack  on  France," 
by  Robert  Dell,  whose  writings  have  been  mainly 
instrumental  in  giving  to  Americans  a  true  history 

3 


4  Author's  Preface 

and  correct  knowledge  of  the  late  conflict  of  the 
church  with  the  French  government.  "  Vati- 
canism," by  Hon.  Willian  E.  Gladstone;  "  The 
Age  of  Reason,"  by  Thomas  Paine,  invaluable  to  all 
seekers  of  truth,  and  in  reasoning  unanswerable; 
and  other  well-known  writers,  to  whom  the  reader 
will  see  I  have  been  greatly,  yes,  well-nigh  wholly 
indebted,  and  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  and 
obligations  in  this  manner  rather  than  by  detailed 
references.  The  second  part  contains  more  of  my 
own  reflections  on  the  subjects  discussed  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  treat  in  a  respectful  manner, 
and  with  kindly  regard  for  the  religious  education 
and  feelings  of  those  who  find  spiritual  consolation 
in  the  teachings  of  their  respective  denominations. 


CONTENTS 


Author's  Preface 

Brief  Summary  of  Text-Book  of  Popery 
The  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Popedom  . 
A  Small  Portion  of  the  Chronological  Table  of 

Popery 

The  Pontifical  Hierarchy 
The  Papal  Interdicts 
Jesuits'  Oath  of  Secrecy 
Historical  Notices  of  Jesuitism    . 
Character  and  Proceedings  of  Jesuitism 
Jesuitism  Incompatible  with  Constitutional 
Order  and  the  Liberty  of  the  Press     . 

Dangers  of  Jesuitism 

Mexico  and  the  United  States 

Memoirs  of  Talleyrand 

A  Brief  Summary  of  M.  De  Talleyrand's  Letter 

to  Pope  Pius  VII 
Oath  of  a  Jesuit  Priest 
The  Roman  Priest's  Oath 
The  Papal  Attack  on  France  together  with 
the  Papal  Aggression  in  France  and  its 
Significance  for  other  Nations 
France  and  the  Separation  Law  and  the  Pro- 
testing Brooklyn  Catholics  .... 
Misstatements  and  Unreliability  of  Writings 
Ascribed  to  the  Apostles  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  and  John,  together  with  Review  of 
'  Age  of  Reason,"  by  Thomas  Paine     . 


Page 
3 
7 
8 

24 
29 
37 
40 
42 
45 

48 
51 
53 
63 

64 

82 
85 


86 


108 


120 


6 


Contents 


Are  the  Claims  and  Teachings  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  and  the  Morals  of  the 
Jesuits  adapted  to  the  Citizens  of  our 
Federal  Republic  ?     Also  some  Unreliable 

Christian  Dogmas 

Teachings  of  tlie  Roman  Catholic  Church 

A  Reply  to  Cardinal  Gibbons's  "  The  Church 
and  the  Republic  " 

Marriage  and  Divorce 
Practical  Examples 

Conclusion  

Definition  of  Words  and  Terms 


Page 


145 
151 

185 
235 
246 
250 
255 


BRIEF    SUMMARY    OF    TEXT-BOOK    OF 

POPERY 

AS  to  the  record  and  practices  of  popes,  cardi- 
nals, bishops,  and  priests  during  the  past 
fifteen  centuries,  among  the  interesting  and 
instructive  books  treating  of  these  is  one 
published  the  last  century,  entitled,  "  The  American 
Text-Book  of  Popery,"  being  an  authentic  compend 
up  to  that  time  of  the  bulls,  canons,  and  decretals 
of  the  Roman  hierarchy.*  It  is  regretted  that  only 
a  limited  space  can  here  be  given  to  a  work  of  years, 
containing  an  enormous  amount  of  valuable  infor- 
mation on  matters  concerning  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  The  first  chapter  opens  with  '  Predic- 
tions of  the  Anti-Christian  Apostates,"  and  treats 
of  the  worship  of  images,  the  supremacy  of  the 
pope,  transubstantiation,  penance  and  purgatory, 
celibacy,  etc.;  but  as  these  subjects  are  taken  up 
later  on  we  proceed  to  the  next  chapter,  on  '  The 
Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Popedom,"  from  the 
first  century  to  the  Reformation,  showing  how, 
when,  where,  and  by  whom  popes  were  made  in  the 
past,  something  of  their  lives,  authority  claimed  and 
exercised,  of  which  little  is  known  by  the  majority 
of  mankind,  Protestants  and  Catholics  alike,  and 
especially  the  latter. 

♦Published  by  Griffiths   &  Simon,  114  North  Third  Street,  Phila- 
delphia; George  G.  Jones,  Cincinnati;  Robert  Carter,  New  York,  1847. 


The  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Popedom 

It  must  be  recollected,  as  of  the  utmost  moment  in  the 
controversy  with  papists,  that  none  of  the  authors  of  the  New 
Testament,  neither  Luke,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  nor 
Peter  himself,  nor  Paul,  nor  James,  nor  Jude,  nor  John,  even 
in  his  prophecies  adverting  to  the  condition  and  state  of 
Christians  until  "  the  holy  city,  New  Jerusalem,  shall  come 
down  from  God  out  of  heaven,  and  the  tabernacle  of  God 
shall  be  with  men  "  —  not  one  of  those  inspired  writers  gives 
us  the  least  intimation  concerning  the  universal  pontificate 
of  Peter;   his  journeys  and  residence  at  Antioch  and  Rome; 
his  bishopric  at  Antioch,  and  his  episcopate  at  Rome  during 
twenty-five  years;  which  facts  are  utterly  impossible  accord- 
ing to  Scriptural  chronology;  the  acts  of  Peter  at  Rome;  his 
pontifical  throne;    his  contest  with  Simon  Magus;    his  ap- 
pointment of  a  successor;    and  the  place  and  time  of  his 
martyrdom.     But  if  all  those  topics  cannot  be  demonstrated 
the  foundation  of  the  papacy  is  destroyed .     The  first  emission 
of  all  the  legends  respecting  Peter's  residence  and  bishopric 
at  Rome  was  by  Jerome,  in  his  translation  of  the  chronicles  of 
Eusebius.     In  fact,  nothing  certain  is  known,  or  can  yet  be 
discovered,    respecting    the    apostles    and    their    immediate 
successors,  except  the  narratives  or  intimations  in  the  New 
Testament. 

In  addition  to  that  fact,  which  overthrows  the  usurped 
pontifical  authority,  not  one  expression  or  implication  respect- 
ing transubstantiation,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  adora- 
tion of  the  host,  communion  in  one  kind,  image  worship,  Mar- 
iolatry,the  invocation  of  saints,  auricular  confession,  papal  in- 
dulgences, purgatory,  the  celibacy  of  priests,  etc.,  or  any  other 

8 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  9 

of  the  distinctive  dogmas  and  rites  of  Romanism,  can  possibly 
be  discovered. 

Century  II.  As  the  churches  became  severed  from  the 
apostolic  era,  they  gradually  receded  from  their  predecessors 
in  doctrinal  purity,  holiness  of  manners,  simplicity  of  rites, 
strictness  of  discipline,  and  spiritual  peace.  They  were  mani- 
festly adulterated  by  impostors  and  false  teachers;  who,  in  the 
days  of  Ignatius,  as  is  evident  from  the  epistles  which  bear  his 
name,  strenuously  endeavored  to  seduce  the  disciples  from  the 
doctrines  and  practice  of  the  gospel. 

About  the  year  150  commenced  that  superstitious  custom 
of  keeping  days  and  times,  which  afterwards  was  displayed  in 
the  forty  days'  fast,  called  Lent.  The  controversy  respecting 
the  period  of  celebrating  the  Lord's  resurrection,  whether 
on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  moon,  or  on  the  ensuing  Lord's 
day,  agitated  the  churches  throughout  the  Roman  empire. 
That  collision  produced  the  first  instance  of  that  pontifical 
arrogance  which  in  subsequent  ages  desolated  the  nations. 

Century  III.  It  is  demonstrable  that  the  perversion  of 
the  Scriptures  and  the  corruption  of  Christianity,  by  incor- 
porating heathenish  principles  and  customs  with  it,  fearfully 
advanced  during  the  third  century,  notwithstanding  all  the 
storms  of  persecution  with  which  the  followers  of  the  Lamb 
were  scathed. 

In  addition  to  the  observance  of  the  Lord's  resurrection, 
the  churches  commemorated  the  nativity  of  Christ,  Nice- 
phorus,  Lib.  7,  Cap.  6,  and  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Days  were  also  dedicated  to  honor  the  martyrs.  Tertullian, 
de  Coron.  Milit.  To  which  was  added  the  superstitious 
practice  of  kneeling  or  standing  when  engaged  in  public 
prayer  at  different  seasons.  Among  other  corruptions  the 
following  were  then  introduced :  The  sign  of  the  cross  on  the 
forehead  in  baptism,  with  oil,  milk,  and  honey.  Water  was 
often  mixed  with  the  sacramental  wine.  Bread  from  the 
Lord's  table  was  also  preserved,  that  it  might  be  sent  to  sick 


10  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

persons.  The  prelates  were  almost  all  employed  in  aggrand- 
izing their  own  superiority,  and  in  disputing  with  each  other 
respecting  the  objects  of  their  inordinate  ambition.  Public 
repentance  was  abused,  either  by  sinful  relaxation  or  un- 
christian severity;  and  favors  were  granted  to  the  guilty, 
upon  the  application  of  those  Christians  who  were  imprisoned 
and  waiting  for  their  martyrdom.  That  was  the  beginning 
of  the  system  of  Romish  penance,  satisfaction  for  sin,  and  in- 
dulgences. The  monastic  life  was  highly  eulogized;  and 
through  the  direful  persecution  of  the  Emperor  Valerian,  and 
the  example  of  Paul  the  Hermit,  the  first  monk,  who  fled  from 
Alexandria  about  the  year  260,  and  who  continued  in  the 
desert  until  the  general  pacification  achieved  by  Constantine, 
the  state  of  celibacy  was  eulogized  as  almost  equally  accept- 
able to  Jehovah  as  suffering  and  death  for  the  sake  of  Christ. 

Although  some  offered  petitions  for  the  departed  martyrs, 
that  they  might  be  received  into  heaven,  from  an  obvious 
perversion  of  the  vision,  Rev.  vi.  9-11,  yet  there  was  no 
intercession  for  the  apostles,  or  the  Virgin  Mary,  or  the 
saints;  and  not  an  intimation  can  be  found  of  any  prayers 
to  the  dead. 

The  grand  defects  of  that  period  arose  from  the  ambition, 
strife,  frauds,  and  calumnies  which  existed  among  the  pre- 
lates, and  which  gradually  infected  and  debased  the  churches. 
Cyprian,  Epist.  7  and  69.  Eusebius,  Hist.,  Lib.  6,  7,  8, 
Cap.  1. 

It  must  also  be  recorded,  that  the  ministers  used  their  ordi- 
nary dress,  and  that  no  one  of  the  sacerdotal  or  pontifical  vest- 
ments, copied  from  the  priests  of  the  heathen  Pantheon,  had 
then  been  introduced  into  the  church.  Euseb.  Hist.,  Lib.  6, 
Cap.  19.  The  marriage  of  Christian  preachers  was  also  un- 
restricted. 

Two  legends  which  were  invented  at  that  period  lucidly 
develop  the  progressive  departure  from  the  gospel.  One 
fabulous  narrative  comprised  the  doings  of  the  seven  Ephesian 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  11 

sleepers;  and  the  other  is  the  history  of  the  fictitious  Ursula 
and  her  eleven  thousand  virgin  companions  whence  the 
order  of  Ursuline  nuns  pretends  to  derive  its  origin. 

This  review  of  the  third  century  may  properly  be  closed 
with  the  testimony  of  Hegesippus,  as  preserved  by  Eusebius, 
Hist.,  Lib  3.  Cap.  32.  "  After  the  sacred  band  of  the 
Apostles  had  ceased  to  live  by  different  kinds  of  death,  and 
their  age  had  passed  away,  to  whom  it  was  granted  by  Christ 
that  they  should  hear  with  their  own  ears  his  Divine  wisdom, 
then  the  false  and  crafty  conspiracy  of  impious  error  took  its 
rise  from  the  deceitfulness  of  those  who  labored  to  dissem- 
inate doctrines  totally  different  from  the  gospel,  and  who 
afterwards,  none  of  the  apostles  any  longer  surviving,  dared 
barefacedly  to  oppose  false  and  lying  doctrines  to  the  sincere 
word  of  truth  " 

Century  IV  It  is  lamentable  to  add  that  the  purity  of 
truth  was  beclouded  with  an  almost  endless  train  of  absurd 
superstitions,  many  of  which  were  added  from  a  desire  to 
conciliate  the  pagans.  Among  the  idolaters  it  had  been  a 
universal  practice  to  form  grand  public  processions  and  offer 
prayers  to  appease  the  wrath  of  their  ideal  gods.  Those 
were  partially  adopted  in  a  ritual  of  great  pomp,  and  were 
most  magnificently  celebrated  among  the  professors  of 
Christianity. 

This  was  the  commencement  of  that  system  of  purgatory 
which  in  subsequent  ages  was  instituted;  and  the  addition  of 
solemn  rites  attached  to  particular  days  increased  the  tend- 
ency to  a  departure  from  the  faith  of  the  saints.  Hence  arose 
the  exhibition  of  those  insincere  practices  which  subsequently 
introduced  the  whole  papal  fabric,  facilitated  the  progress  of 
the  monkish  system,  and  forced  celibacy  and  sanctioned 
the  establishment  of  two  maxims  which  subsequently  unfolded 
all  their  iniquity.  Towards  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth 
century  the  Christian  Church  was  defiled  with  the  general 
belief,  adoption,  and    practice    of    those   most    abhorrent 


12  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

positions, —  "that  falsehood  is  virtue,  when  by  it  the  interests 
of  the  church  can  be  promoted;  and  that  errors  in  faith 
should  be  punished  with  torture  and  death." 

Theodosius  summoned  a  council  to  meet  at  Constanti- 
nople, and  among  the  other  bishops  who  were  directed  to 
attend  Gregory  Nazianzen  was  invited.  He  refused,  and 
in  his  reply  to  the  emperor,  after  reciting  his  virtues,  which  he 
loved,  and  his  authority,  which  he  acknowledged,  he  stated 
that  he  could  not  conscientiously  be  present;  for  he  would 
not  voluntarily  take  a  seat  among  chattering  cranes  and  stupid 
geese;  and  that  he  had  never  seen  or  heard  of  any  benefit 
having  flowed  from  these  councils,  but  rather  that  they  were 
sources  of  division  and  contention.  The  history  of  nearly 
fifteen  hundred  years  has  fully  corroborated  the  justice  of  his 
opinion. 

The  seeds  of  papal  supremacy  then  exhibited  their  fer- 
tility; for  the  magnificence,  the  wealth,  the  power,  and  the 
patronage  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  had  so  enormously  increased 
that  the  attainment  of  that  station  was  the  highest  object  of 
human  ambition.  To  counteract  that  arrogance  the  Bishop 
of  Constantinople  was  considered  as  his  equal,  and  the  strife 
proposed  by  their  successors  finally  conducted  the  adherents 
of  the  two  differing  hierarchs  into  that  separation  which  still 
exists  between  the  Greek  and  Roman  apostates.  Both  are 
equally  ignorant  and  servile,  and  of  course  alike  bigoted,  even 
after  the  lapse  of  fourteen  hundred  years. 

The  Council  of  Nice  was  convened  in  the  year  325 ;  and 
notwithstanding  they  opposed  the  grosser  doctrinal  perversion 
of  the  Scriptures,  yet  they  ratified  a  number  of  customs  which 
were  opposed  to  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel.  Several  new 
festivals,  the  Epiphany,  the  Annunciation  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  days  of  martyrs  were  celebrated.  Relics,  pilgrimages  to 
Jerusalem,  the  lent  fast,  and  monachism  received  additional 
honors.  Thus  human  traditions  gradually  usurped  the  su- 
premacy over  evangelical  truth;    and  ecclesiastical  dignity, 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  13 

with  opulence  and  worldly  pomp,  corrupted  the  minds  and 
morals  of  all  orders  in  the  churches. 

But  the  writers  of  that  period  totally  disagreed  from  the 
modern  papists  and  the  Council  of  Trent  upon  the  canon, 
rites,  discipline,  and  church  government,  although  a  large 
number  of  ceremonies  was  introduced  from  the  Gentile 
idolatry.  The  elevation  of  the  host  was  practiced,  yet  it  was 
only  for  observation,  and  not  to  be  adored.  The  first  use  of 
the  word  Mass  appears  in  Ambrose,  Epistol.  33.  Private 
confession  of  sin  and  the  confessor  priest  also  were  author 
ized.     Socrates  Hist.,  Lib.  5,  Cap.  19. 

The  following  preludes  of  popery  had  become  generally 
adopted,  or  were  established  ceremonial  observances.  From 
the  pagans  they  borrowed  wax  tapers,  burning  by  daylight 
and  in  the  churches;  the  scattering  of  incense;  distinction  of 
meats;  veneration  of  relics;  and  pilgrimages  to  certain  sup- 
posed hallowed  places. 

Invocation  of  saints  was  offered  conditionally,  "  if  they 
could  hear  and  understand." 

The   introduction   and   public   use   of   images   into   the 
churches  were  commenced  at  the  latter  part  of  the  fourth 
century;   but  that  idolatry  was  strenuously  opposed  by  Epi 
phanius. 

The  monastic  system  was  fearfully  augmented  during  the 
fourth  century,  to  the  destruction  of  the  national  strength  and 
prosperity.  So  numerous  had  friars  and  nuns  become,  that 
the|Emperor  Valens,  after  denouncing  them  as  "  ignavce 
sectatores,"  imbodied  a  large  army  of  monks,  whom  he  col- 
lected~from  EgyptJ'alone,^ expressly  to  withstand  the  irrup- 
tions of  the  Goths  and  Vandals. 

I|!  In  Egypt  at  that  period  was  formed  the  order  of  nuns. 
During  the  anterior  ages,  the  widows  who  had  consecrated 
themselves  to  God  for  the  service  of  His  church,  and  the 
afflicted  Christian  disciples  amid  the  scenes  of  persecution 
resided  with  their  parents,  and  could  always  be  released  from 


14  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

their  vow,  which  was  conditional,  and  temporary  only  in 
obligation.  The  collection  of  young  females  in  convents, 
near  the  monasteries  of  men,  was  a  contrivance  of  the  Egyp- 
tian monks  in  their  secluded  abodes.  Nun  is  an  ancient 
Egyptian  word,  and  aptly  expresses  the  character.  It  means 
a  woman  abjectly  submissive  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  to  the 
will  of  her  superior, —  and  thus  completely  unfolds,  even  in 
the  term,  the  incurable  corruption  of  conventual  life.  The 
loathsome  wickedness  which  almost  immediately  attended 
that  perversion  of  the  law  of  nature  and  the  claims  of  religion 
is  described  by  the  ancient  writers  in  the  most  pungent 
language. 

In  connection  with  that  "  mystery  of  iniquity  "  a  celibate 
life  was  extravagantly  eulogized,  and  especially  for  the  offi- 
cers of  the  churches.  Hence,  about  the  year  390,  Siricius, 
the  Roman  prelate,  issued  his  mandate  prohibiting  bishops, 
presbyters,  and  deacons  to  marry.  Epist.  1,  ad.  Himer., 
Tarracon.,  Canon  7,  in  which  he  declared  that  the  marriage 
of  ministers  after  their  ordination  is  the  same  as  the  sin  of 
adultery.  His  proof  he  pretended  to  derive  from  the  words 
of  Paul,  Rom.  viii.  8,  "  They  who  are  in  the  flesh  cannot 
please  God."  How  profound  must  the  universal  ignorance 
have  become,  when  the  boasted  arrogant  chief  of  the  Christian 
churches  could  thus  pervert  Scripture  to  sanction  his  corrup- 
tions. Great,  widespread,  and  lasting  contentions  proceeded 
from  that  most  ungodly  display  of  the  grand  apostacy. 

Century  V.  During  the  next  hundred  years  the  progress 
of  the  "  falling  away,"  which  the  Apostle  Paul  describes, 
2  Thess.  ii.  was  rapid  and  continuous.  Nevertheless,  some 
degree  of  doctrinal  purity  was  retained.  The  unadulterated 
canon  of  Scripture,  with  the  distinguishing  creed  of  the 
modern  reformed  churches,  constituted  the  basis  of  their  faith. 

The  application  of  Augustine's  canon  determines  that  all 
the  distinguishing  articles  of  popery  are  the  working  of  Satan. 
No  sane  person  would  think  of  exploring  the  sacred  volume 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  15 

to  discover  the  worship  of  images  or  relics;  mariolatry  and 
marianity;  the  invocation  of  saints;  purgatory;  papal  indul- 
gences; auricular  confession ;  transubstantiation ;  the  propi- 
tiatory sacrifice  of  the  mass;  the  adoration  of  the  host;  pro- 
cessions, and  the  feast  in  honor  of  the  sacrament;  solitary 
masses;  communion  in  one  kind;  the  immaculate  conception; 
and  the  universal  pontificate  in  infallibility  and  jurisdiction. 
Spanheim,  Introd.  ad  Hist.  Novi  Test.,  p.  465. 

That  mighty  and  portentous  evil,  the  celibacy  of  ecclesi- 
astics, had  become  very  general;  for  that  wicked  council 
which  assembled  at  Carthage  decreed,  "  Episcopi,  et  pres- 
byteri,  et  diaconi,  secundum  propria  statuta,  ab  uxoribus  con- 
tineant";  which  accursed  doctrine,  as  the  Roman  pontiffs 
perceived  that  it  intensely  augmented  their  power,  gradually 
metamorphosed  the  face  of  the  moral  world  and  of  the 
Church  of  God. 

There  was  a  vast  increase  of  superstitions.  Monachism 
was  extended.  Leo  exchanged  public  for  private  confession. 
The  litany,  or  the  system  of  alternate  responding  in  prayer 
by  the  minister  and  people,  was  first  invented  by  Mamertus, 
about  the  year  466.  To  which  may  be  subjoined  a  crowd 
of  puerile  ceremonies,  official  garments,  the  frequent  eleva- 
tion of  the  cross,  with  other  childish,  impious  rites;  the  pomp 
and  negligence  of  the  prelates;  the  violations  of  the  canons 
and  discipline;  theatrical  sports,  heathenish  spectacles,  and 
other  festivities ;  and  also  against  the  multiplying  superstitions 
respecting  images,  relics,  pilgrimages,  abstinence  from  food, 
and  the  monastic  abuses.     Spanheim,  p.  472. 

During  the  fifth  century  the  ecclesiastical  orders  became 
more  distantly  separated  into  patriarchs,  primates  or  metro- 
politans, archbishops,  archimandrines  or  abbots,  arch- 
presbyters,  archdeacons,  and  vicars,  all  of  whom  were  sub- 
ject to  the  despotic  usurpations  of  the  synod,  whose  frequent 
unholy  and  anti-Christian  decisions  were  enforced  by  the  civil 
authority. 


16  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

At  the  great  Council  of  Chalcedon,  which  was  convened 
by  Marcian  in  the  year  450,  a  decree  was  enacted  which 
utterly  subverts  all  the  pretended  claims  of  the  Roman  prelate 
to  pontifical  supremacy.  The  twenty-eighth  canon  of  that 
assembly  decided  that  the  bishops  of  Rome  and  Constanti- 
nople possessed  cequalia  privilegia,  equal  privileges  of  honor 
and  dignity;  and  to  the  Eastern  prelate  was  assigned  a  much 
larger  extent  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction. 

To  that  century  may  also  be  attributed  many  of  those 
legends  and  false  miracles  that  afterwards  formed  the  basis 
upon  which  was  erected  the  whole  system  of  Babylonish 
frauds,  impostures,  "  signs,  lying  wonders,  and  strong  de- 
lusion." 

Century  VI.  The  superstitions  which  already  have  been 
enumerated  became  more  diffused  and  uniformly  practised 
as  the  religious  gloom  increased,  and  as  the  usurpations  of  the 
Roman  prelate  became  confirmed  by  time.  Nevertheless, 
upon  all  the  principal  themes  of  Christian  theology,  the 
churches  in  the  sixth  century  remained  ignorant  of  popery, 
as  it  was  afterwards  so  direfully  developed. 

But  the  corrupt  ritual  tended  more  and  more  to  idolatry. 
Edifices  were  named  after  Mary,  Anne,  Peter,  Paul,  John, 
etc.,  and  the  temples  which  the  pagans  had  devoted  to  the 
honor  of  Venus,  Apollo,  Mars,  and  their  other  gods  and 
goddesses,  were  devoted  to  the  saints. 

To  the  sixth  century  must  be  imputed  some  novelties, 
for  it  was  a  period  fertile  in  folly.  The  character  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  became  so  obscured  that  it  was  generally 
deemed  to  be  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  living  and 
the  dead;  and  upon  that  anti-Christian  fiction  was 
erected  afterwards  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  Romish 
heresies. 

Indulgences,  in  the  popish  acceptation  of  the  term,  seem 
to  have'  been  first  announced  by  Gregory  I,  who  also  enjoined 
the  carrying  about  of  the  picture  of  the  Virgin  Mary  at 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  17 

processions,  and  the  burning  of  candles  and  tapers  in  the 
daytime,  before  the  idolatrous  altars. 

In  the  year  529  arose  the  regular  orders  of  monks,  who  ra- 
pidly filled  all  "  the  horns  of  the  beast,"  and  attained  wealth, 
honors,  and  power  not  less  immense  than  mischievous.  To 
the  Benedictine  monasteries,  which  were  the  primitive  con- 
federacies of  European  friars,  were  speedily  appended  female 
convents,  not  for  instruction  and  temporary  seclusion  only, 
but  for  an  unchanging  abode.  Girls  fled  from  their  parents 
at  an  early  age,  and  women  abandoned  their  husbands,  pur- 
loined the  domestic  property,  and  transferred  it  to  the  nun- 
nery. Whence  those  monasteries  soon  were  the  curse  of  the 
nations. 

It  is  also  evident  that  the  privileges  which  were  after- 
wards claimed  under  the  generic  term,  pontifical  rights,  were 
not  arrogated  by  the  Roman  prelate  in  the  sixth  century. 
At  that  period  there  is  no  vestige  in  authentic  history  of  the 
papal  annates;  investiture  of  bishops;  the  oath  of  fidelity  to 
the  court  of  Rome ;  popish  legates  and  nuncios ;  presidency 
in  all  councils;  the  pontifical  infallibility;  papal  dispensa- 
tions; the  treasury  of  indulgences;  and  the  prerogative  to 
beatify  or  canonize. 

At  nearly  the  latter  end  of  the  sixth  century,  amid  the 
unceasing  strife  which  the  prelates  of  Rome  and  Constanti- 
nople prolonged  for  the  entire  supremacy  over  all  the  nominal 
Christian  disciples,  John,  the  Patriarch  of  the  East,  claimed 
and  assumed  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop.  Gregory  of 
Rome  denounced  that  measure  as  an  intolerable  usurpation. 
He  expostulated  with  Mauritius,  the  emperor,  for  permit- 
ting John  to  assume  that  "  insolent  title,"  in  the  following 
language.  "  Where  is  that  Antichrist,"  said  Gregory,  "  who 
shall  challenge  to  himself  the  title  of  universal  bishop  ?  He 
is  near  and  at  the  door.  By  this  pride  he  shows  that  the 
times  of  Antichrist  are  approaching.  I  confidently  assert 
that  whosoever   calls  himself  the  universal   bishop  is   the 


18  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

forerunner  of  Antichrist."  Notwithstanding  this  condemna- 
tion of  the  pontifical  arrogance,  through  the  atrocious  murder 
of  the  Emperor  Mauritius  and  his  family  by  Phocas,  which,  if 
not  primarily  instigated  by  Gregory,  was  eulogized  by  him 
with  the  most  extravagant  panegyric,  the  way  was  opened  for 
the  complete  triumph  of  the  episcopal  arrogance,  and  the 
permanent  establishment  of  "  the  mystery  of  iniquity." 

Century  VII,  VIII.  From  the  period  when  the  ecclesi- 
astical supremacy  was  declared  by  the  Constantinopolitan 
emperor  to  inhere  in  the  Roman  hierarch,  and  which  usurpa- 
tion was  tacitly  or  actually  admitted  by  the  barbarian  kings, 
who  had  subdivided  western  Europe,  the  mental  darkness 
and  ecclesiastical  vassalage  increased  with  dreadful  alacrity 
throughout  nominal  Christendom. 

The  Emperor  Leo  III,  in  726,  promulgated  a  decree 
that  the  worship  of  images  should  be  abrogated,  and  that  they 
should  not  be  tolerated  in  the  churches.  A  widespread  in- 
surrection, which  was  instigated  chiefly  by  those  two  furious 
Roman  pontiffs,  Gregory  II  and  Gregory  III,  ensued. 
Gregory  II  excommunicated  Leo,  who,  in  retaliation,  de- 
stroyed all  the  images  at  Constantinople,  and  removed  from 
ecclesiastical  and  civil  offices  the  image  worshippers. 

The  title  of  universal  bishop  was  obtained  through  the 
massacre  of  the  Emperor  Mauritius  and  his  adherents. 
Image  worship,  with  all  the  power  and  pomp  which  it  added 
to  the  Roman  pontificate,  was  the  result  of  general  rebellion, 
and  the  murder  of  two  emperors,  by  the  wife  of  the  first  and 
the  mother  of  the  second.  The  acquisition  of  the  dominions 
in  Italy,  by  which  the  pope  became  a  temporal  sovereign,  was 
the  result  of  Pepin's  donation;  who  gave  to  Pope  Zacharay 
the  province  of  Lombardy,  as  a  reward  to  the  pontiff  for 
assisting  Pepin  in  dethroning  Childeric,  king  of  France,  and 
destroying  his  family.  Thus  treason,  slaughter,  and  the  most 
unnatural  domestic  butchery  were  the  grand  principles  upon 
which  the  popedom  is  founded. 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  19 

Century  IX,  X.  The  period  which  elapsed  from  about 
the  year  800  to  1000  is  infamous  in  the  annals  of  the  popedom 
for  the  universal  ignorance,  impiety,  and  wickedness  which 
characterize  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries. 

The  principal  peculiarities  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries 
are  discernible  in  the  forgeries  of  the  Decretal  Epistles,  which 
were  pretended  to  have  been  delivered  by  the  early  pontiffs. 
To  enhance  the  pope's  temporal  power  a  deed  was  framed, 
which  it  was  said  had  been  granted  by  Constantine  in  the 
fourth  century,  by  which  he  had  made  a  donation  of  Rome 
and  a  large  part  of  Italy  to  Pope  Sylvester  and  his  successors, 
as  their  temporal  inheritance.  Baronius  proved  that  the 
deed  was  forged  several  hundred  years  after  the  death  of 
Constantine,  by  a  monk  called  Balsamon,  expressly  to  sustain 
inordinate  usurpations  of  the  Roman  pontiff. 

The  corporeal  presence  of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist  was  first 
announced  about  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century;  and  the 
mummery  of  naming  bells  with  the  same  superstitious  cere- 
monies that  are  used  in  the  exorcism  of  mankind  was  also 
introduced,  to  which  was  added  the  feast  of  All  Souls, 
or  the  day  of  general  delivery  of  souls  from  the  prison  of 
purgatory. 

The  popedom  itself  was  filled  with  schisms  and  conten- 
tions during  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  years;  at  which 
time  the  profoundest  ignorance  begloomed  the  nations,  and 
the  most  nefarious  wickedness  was  unrestrained.  Rome 
itself  was  exactly  described  by  the  Apostle  John,  Rev.  xviii. 
2,  as  "  the  habitation  of  devils,  and  the  hold  of  every  foul 
spirit,  and  a  cage  of  every  unclean  and  hateful  bird." 

That  there  was  a  terrifying  increase  of  corruption  during 
the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  in  doctrine,  ceremonies,  disci- 
pline, and  morals,  throughout  all  the  papal  dominions,  is  a 
fact  which  the  Roman  annalists  admit;   and  its  unspeakable 
inordinacy  they  describe  in  the  most  revolting  style. 

Traditions  most  contradictory  to  the  apostolic  precepts 


20  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

were  promulgated  and  enjoined.  The  pope's  universal  su- 
premacy; image  worship;  false  miraclei;  the  corporeal  pres- 
ence of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist;  the  saving  efficacy  of  the  cross 
and  relics ;  invocation  of  saints ;  worship  of  the  Mother  of  God ; 
purgatory;  masses  for  the  dead ;  the  holiness  of  festivals;  the 
merits  of  monachism;  the  necessity  of  celibacy;  and  the  pro- 
hibition of  marriage  to  the  sixth  degree  of  consanguinity,  with 
newly  arranged  spiritual  relationships;  all  of  which  were  con- 
trived as  so  many  methods  to  obtain  money  from  the  wretched 
creatures  who  were  chained  in  their  gloomy  vassalage.  The 
adoration  of  images  and  relics;  the  pretended  discovery  and 
translation  of  the  bodies,  or  parts  of  them,  which  were  re- 
ported to  be  the  remains  of  prophets,  apostles,  evangelists, 
and  martyrs,  and  festivals  of  all  kinds  continually  recurring, 
constituted  the  grand  external  features  of  the  debased  nations 
who  bowed  to  the  pontifical  scepter. 

The  extreme  iniquity  which  then  was  universal  among  all 
orders  of  the  European  people,  from  the  pope  and  monarch 
down  to  the  meanest  vassal,  the  Capitularies,  Lib.  1,  the 
Acts  of  Councils,  and  all  the  chronicles  of  those  centuries 
distinctly  unfold.  Even  the  temporal  monarchs  could  not 
tolerate  the  enormous  flagitiousness  of  the  popes,  cardinals, 
prelates,  abbots,  and  monks,  with  nuns  of  every  order.  Hist. 
Imag.,  Cap.  8,  Mezeroeus  Hist.,  Sec.  9.  Tom.  1,  p.  651, 
thus  forcibly  writes:  '  Divina  ultione  Normanos,  gentem  ad 
omnem  barbariem  ac  soevitiam  compositam,  qui  suis  irrup- 
tionibus  meritissima  supplicia  de  corruptissimis  nebulonibus 
sumerent." 

The  profound  ignorance  of  all  orders  of  men  was  exactly 
parallel  with  their  infamous  turpitude.  A  priest  or  monk 
who  could  even  read  was  a  doctor;  and  a  man  who  could 
write  his  name  was  a  prodigy;  but  a  person  who  could  forge 
a  manuscript  of  lying  legends  was  a  saint. 

Idolatry  and  superstition  had  almost  attained  their  rank- 
est and  most  criminal  monstrosity.     They  were  exemplified 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  21 

in  the  unceasing  canonization  of  saints;  the  impiety  attached 
to  the  system  of  discovering,  inventing,  and  worshipping 
relics;  the  excessive  veneration  and  confidence  towards 
images,  statues,  and  pictures;  hagiolatry,  or  the  worship  and 
intercession  of  saints,  to  the  total  exclusion  of  all  remem- 
brance of  Jehovah  and  the  gracious  Redeemer;  and  espe- 
cially that  mariolatry,  which  exalted  the  Virgin  Mary  as 
Queen  of  Heaven,  and  made  her  the  chief  and  generally  the 
sole  object  of  superstitious  trust  and  idolatrous  honor. 

Sigonius,  An.  985,  affirms,  according  to  the  legends,  that  in 
the  wars  with  the  Saracens  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  were 
seen  engaged  in  battle  on  the  part  of  the  nominal  Christians. 
Wolfgang,  Nicon,  Simeon  Metaphrastes,  and  the  Byzantine 
historians  unite  in  ascribing  to  the  Virgin  Mother  of  God  the 
most  horridly  blasphemous  eulogies,  invocation,  and  worship, 
respecting  her  mercy,  assistance,  protection,  health,  salvation, 
and  every  other  blessing.  Greeks  and  Latins  all  agreed  to 
ascribe  to  her  the  incommunicable  attributes  of  the  most  high 
God,  and  the  offices,  merits,  and  work  of  Christ,  the  only 
Mediator. 

To  Pope  John  XIII  appertains  the  stigma  of  introducing 
the  baptism  of  bells. 

The  ordeals  of  fire  and  water  originated  in  the  same 
priestly  frauds,  and  were  submitted  to  through  popular  igno- 
rance. In  every  case,  that  scheme  was  made  subservient  to 
the  increase  of  the  power  and  wealth  of  the  priesthood,  and  to 
gratify  their  revengeful  malignity. 

The  impure  law  of  priestly  celibacy  was  enforced  by  every 
possible  delusion.  Not  only  pontifical  authority,  but  pre- 
tended supernatural  attestations,  were  adduced  to  promote 
that  stronghold  of  "  the  mystery  of  iniquity." 

The  impious  tenet  of  transubstantiation  also  was  sanc- 
tioned by  "  signs."  Monkish  impostors  attested  upon  "  oath, 
by  their  vestments,"  that  while  the  piece  of  the  body  of  Christ 
was  in  the  hand  of  the  priest,  they  had  watched  the  blood 


22  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

flow  from  it  in  drops  as  out  of  the  veins  of  a  true  human  body; 
and  that  they  had  seen  the  bread  changed  into  Christ  himself, 
sitting  in  the  form  of  a  little  boy  upon  the  altar! 

Purgatory  was  likewise  established  by  the  promulgation 
of  a  mass  of  fictions  not  less  absurd  than  impious  and  ruinous 
to  the  soul;  and  the  anointing  of  the  sick  was  advanced  into 
the  deceitful  superstition  of  the  extreme  unction. 

The  merits,  power,  and  propitiation  of  the  Virgin  Mother 
of  God,  with  the  grace,  mercy,  and  peace  of  Jehovah,  bestowed 
through  her  alone,  were  universally  conceded  to  equal  those 
attributes  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  virtue  of  his  atone- 
ment was  rejected  for  the  expiatory  sacrifice  of  the  mass. 

The  period  which  elapsed  from  the  commencement  of  the 
tenth  century,  during  nearly  the  ensuing  five  hundred  years, 
has  been  emphatically  and  appropriately  termed  the  mid- 
night of  the  world.  The  grateful  remembrances  of  that 
doleful  period  are  so  few  and  so  far  between,  that  were  it  not 
for  the  instructive  cautionary  lessons  which  they  teach,  and 
the  corroborative  proofs  of  the  prophetical  Scriptures  which 
they  comprise,  it  would  excite  little  regret  if  the  whole  mass 
of  feudalism  and  imposture,  ignorance  and  crime,  priest- 
craft and  monachism,  usurpation  and  vassalage,  tyranny 
and  slaughter,  anguish  and  diabolism,  were  expunged  from 
the  annals  of  mankind. 

From  the  year  1000  to  the  Reformation.  It  is  un- 
necessary minutely  to  describe  the  events  which  transpired 
during  the  five  hundred  years  immediately  prior  to  the  revo- 
lution which  occurred  throughout  Europe  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  All  the  papal  measures  were  merely  contrivances 
to  confirm  their  nefarious  preeminence. 

The  claims  of  Hildebrand  to  godlike  power  in  heaven  and 
upon  earth;  the  establishment  of  the  conclave  of  cardinals; 
the  rigorous  and  efficient  injunction  of  priestly  celibacy;  the 
enforcement  of  a  belief  in  purgatory;  the  arrogance  of  the 
popes  in  demanding  the  power  of  investitures  concerning 


Origin  and  Progress  of  Popedom  23 

prelates;  the  publication  of  the  canon  law,  with  the  de- 
cretals, and  the  boundless  monkish  forgeries  and  legends  to 
ratify  them;  the  feigned  and  counterfeit  miracles  which 
were  constantly  promulgated ;  the  authoritative  demand  for 
the  plenary  belief  in  transubstantiation ;  the  crusades; 
the  increasing  hordes  of  friars  and  nuns;  the  establishment 
and  sale  of  indulgences,  as  a  commutation  for  sin;  the  in- 
vention of  seven  sacraments;  and,  above  all,  the  sanguin- 
ary, general,  and  incessant  persecutions  of  the  "  witnesses 
who  prophesied  in  sackcloth,"  and  who  protested  "  with  a 
loud  voice "  against  the  indescribable  abominations  of 
"  Babylon  the  great,"  —  all  those  combined  causes  produced 
the  full  evolution  and  the  long  predominance  of  "  the  mystery 
of  iniquity."  Romish  tyranny,  and  the  pride,  luxury,  pomp, 
uncleanness,  and  impiety  of  the  papal  priests  were  consum- 
mated. "  The  Man  of  Sin  and  the  Son  of  Perdition  "  was 
Lord  upon  earth.  "  The  working  of  Satan  w  was  unre- 
strained; and  incarnate  diabolism  was  so  culminant  that 
even  many  of  the  moral  and  thoughtful  dwellers  in  the  seat  of 
the  beast  clamored  loudly  for  a  general  and  complete  refor- 
mation. 


A  Small  Portion  of  the  Chronological  Table 

of  Popery 

A.D.      65.     Nero  —  First  persecutions  of  Christians. 

123.     Alexander,  Bishop  of  Rome,  invented  holy  water. 

135.     Bishop  Sextus  introduced  altars. 

154.     The  title  of  pope  first  applied  to  ministers  by 

Heginus. 
159.     Fonts  in  churches  were  first  appointed  by  Pius. 
169.     Anicetus,   of   Rome,    directed    consecration   of 

bishops  and  shaving  heads  of  the  priests. 
275.     The  ninth  persecution. 
302.     The     tenth     persecution.     In     Egypt     alone 

144,000    were    put    to    death,    and    700,000 

banished. 
316.     Constantine  first  exercised  the  ecclesiastical  and 

temporal  power. 
320.     Wax  candles  and  lamps  were  introduced  and 

kept  burning  in  the  churches. 
325.     First  general  council  of  Nice,  and  the  Nicene 

creed  was  adopted. 
380.     The    application    of    the    word    Catholic    was 

adopted. 
394.     The  word  mass  was  adopted. 
429.     Nestorioras  denied   the  propriety  of  applying 

the  title  "  Mother  of  God  "  to  the  Virgin  Mary. 
461.     Paulinus  of  Nola  invented  the  painting  of  stories 

of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  crosses  on  the 

walls  of  the  churches. 
494.     Gelasius,  the  Roman  prelate,  claimed  the  pri- 
macy above  all  bishops. 

24 


Chronological  Table  of  Popery  25 

555.  Pelagius  poisoned  Vigilius  that  he  might  be 
elected  in  his  stead. 

591.  Gregory  adopted  the  title  of  Servant  to  the 
Servants  of  God. 

594.  John,  of  Constantinople,  again  asserted  his 
claim  to  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop. 

606.  Pope  Boniface  III  obtained  from  the  usurper 
Phocas  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  and  de- 
creed that  the  appellation  of  pope  should  ever 
after  be  restricted  to  the  Roman  pontiff. 

704.  Aripert,  king  of  the  Lombards,  gave  the  Roman 
pontiff  the  Celtian  Alps  for  an  ecclesiastical 
patrimony,  the  first  province  over  which  popes 
exercised  regular  temporal  sovereignty  and 
which  in  709  was  exempted  from  imperial 
jurisdiction. 

829.  The  Roman  priests  were  now  proverbially 
disorderly,  proud,  and  unclean. 

853.  Cardinals  were  first  known  in  Rome. 

854.  Popess  Joan  was  head  of  the  pontificate  until 

her  death  in  the  midst  of  an  idolatrous  proces- 
sion going  to  the  Lateran. 

863.  The  Pope  and  Photius,  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, excommunicated  each  other 

881.  Pope  John  was  put  to  death  for  his  intolerable 
wickedness. 

896.  Pope  Boniface  VI  was  expelled  from  his  office 

before  the  end  of  the  first  month  on  account 
of  his  atrocious  lewdness. 

897.  Pope  Stephen  was  a  more  outrageous  monster 

than  Boniface.     He  was  seized  and  strangled 
in  prison. 
925.     Pope  John  began  the  custom  of  making  boy 
prelates.     He  appointed  a  boy  five  years  of 
age  Prelate  of  Rheims. 


26  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

930.  The  two  preceding  popes  were  murdered  by  the 
harlot  Marozia,  daughter  of  Theodora,  that 
she  might  place  in  the  popedom  John,  her  son, 
of  whom  Pope  Jergius  III  was  father. 
964.  Pope  Leo  was  caught  in  adultery  and  slain  upon 
the  spot  by  the  husband. 

1045.  Pope  Benedict  was  banished  from  the  popedom 
for  his  wickedness;  Silvester  III  was  also  ex- 
pelled; Gregory  VI  was  elected.  They  all 
resided  in  Rome  until  a  council  excluded  them. 
Thus  there  were  three  popes  living  at  the  same 
time. 

1064.     Popes  were  elected  by  the  cardinals. 

1095.     Beads  to  pray  by  were  first  invented. 

1124.  The  Archbishop  of  Lyons  was  slain  at  Rome 
for  censuring  the  beastly  wickedness  of  the 
papal  dignitaries. 

1155.  Arnold  of  Brescia,  was  burnt  for  exposing  the 
turpitude  of  the  Roman  priests. 

1211.     The  order  of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  founded. 

1215.  The  Lateran  Council  was  summoned  to  crush 
the  Albigenses  and  to  confirm  transubstan- 
tiation. 

1233.     The  inquisition  was  established. 

1252.     The  Bible  was  divided  into  chapters. 

1260.  Nearly  100,000  of  the  Albigenses  were  massacred 
by  the  papists. 

1275.  The  conclave  of  cardinals  was  established  and 
the  superstitious  reverence  to  the  name  of 
Jesus  was  enacted. 

1 295 .  Boniface  VIII,  it  was  said ,  entered  the  pontificate 
like  a  fox,  ruled  like  a  wolf,  and  died  like  a  dog. 

1300.  Pope  Boniface  styled  himself  "  Universal  Lord, 
both  in  all  things  temporal  and  spiritual." 


Chronological  Table  of  Popery  27 

1540.  The  order  of  Jesuits  was  founded  by  Ignatius. 
Loyola. 

1545.  The  Council  of  Trent  was  opened  December  13. 
The  sessions  continued  at  intervals  for  eiffh- 
teen  years. 

1549.  The  pope  appoints  as  cardinal  a  boy  whom  he 
had  employed  as  his  money  keeper. 

1572.  Gregory  XIII.  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
(August  24),  in  which  from  50,000  to  100,000 
French  Protestants  (Huguenots)  were  butch- 
ered by  order  of  Charles  IX.  The  news  ex- 
cites the  most  extravagant  joy  at  Rome  and  a 
medal  is  struck  commemorating  the  event. 

1584.  The  Prince  of  Orange  is  murdered  by  Balthazar 
Gerard  at  the  instigation  of  the  Jesuits,  who  as- 
sure him  of  a  happy  immortality  as  his  reward. 

1589.  Henry  III,  of  France,  is  murdered  by  Jacques 
Clement,  a  tool  of  the  Jesuits,  August  1. 

1603.  The  Jesuits  who  had  been  banished  from  France 

were  permitted  to  return. 

1604.  The  Jesuits  are  expelled  from  England. 

1605.  Pope  Paul  V,  who  was  styled  "  Vice  God  upon 

Earth,  Monarch  of  Christendom,  and  the 
supporter  of  Papal  Omnipotence,"  on  May  29 
sanctions  the  doctrine  of  the  Jesuit  Suarez, 
that  it  is  right  to  murder  kings  who  oppose  the 
pontifical  power. 

1622.  Gregory  XV  canonizes  Ignatius  Loyola,  the 
founder  of  the  Jesuits,  as  a  saint. 

1644.  Donna  Olympia  Maldachini,  the  pope's  para- 
mour, governs  church  and  state  for  ten  years 
during  the  pontificate  of  Innocent  X. 

1686.  An  edict  is  published  July  1  declaring  every 
Huguenot  minister,  native  or  foreign,  punish- 
able with  death  if  found  in  France. 


28  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

1764.  The  Jesuits  are  expelled  from  Portugal,  and  the 
Society  of  Jesuits  is  suppressed  in  France  by 
order  of  the  king. 

1767.  Jesuits  banished  from  Spain,  and  compelled  to 

leave  for  Italy  without  an  hour's  delay. 

1768.  Jesuits  driven  from  the  two  Sicilies. 

1773.  Pope  Clement  XIV  suppressed  the  Order  of 
Jesuits  and  dies  a  year  after  the  date  of  the 
edict  (July  31)  with  every  evidence  of  having 
been  poisoned. 

1814.  Pius  VII  restores  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits  by  a 
pontifical  edict. 

1833.  Gregory  XVI  issues  an  encyclical  letter  de- 
nouncing liberty  of  conscience  and  freedom  of 
the  press  as  pestilential  errors. 

1837.  Upwards  of  400  Protestants  of  Zillerthal,  in  the 
Tyrol,  are  banished  because  they  refuse  alle- 
giance to  the  Pope. 

1844.  The  Pope  issues  a  bull,  May  8,  against  Bible 
Societies,  and  denounces  them  as  "  works  of 
the  devil." 


The  Pontifical  Hierarchy 

The  primary  hypothesis  of  popery  is  the  supremacy  of  the 
Roman  pontiff,  which  implies  that  all  rules  of  faith  and 
practice  depend  upon  him  as  the  infallible  head  and  lord  of 
the  church.  Hence  it  is  proclaimed  as  a  fundamental  article 
of  belief,  that  nothing  must  be  believed  or  done  unless  the 
representative  of  the  church  commands  it.  From  which 
principle,  it  is  maintained,  that  human  salvation  depends 
upon  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Roman  pontiff  as  the 
supreme  head  of  the  church;  that  he  is  chief  teacher;  and 
that  there  is  no  other  foundation  of  faith  than  his  decree. 

"  The  Roman  pontiff  alone  is  called  universal.  He  alone 
can  ordain  and  depose  bishops.  It  is  lawful  to  him  alone  to 
enact  laws  as  necessity  demands.  His  name  alone,  as  the 
only  one  in  the  world,  should  be  recited  in  the  church.  No 
general  synod  should  be  called  without  his  mandate.  No 
chapter  or  book  can  be  canonical  without  his  authority.  His 
decision  can  be  judged  and  opposed  by  no  man.  All  causes 
must  be  referred  to  the  court  of  Rome,  which  never  has  erred, 
and  never  can  err." 

The  subjects  of  the  pope  are  the  common  people,  and 
those  who  belong  to  the  ecclesiastical  orders.  The  latter  are 
a  numerous  army,  who  endeavor  by  various  arts,  strength,  and 
stratagems  to  increase  and  amplify  the  dominion  of  their 
prince.  Puffendorf,  Hist.  Univ.,  Cap.  De  Papa.  That  army 
is  composed  of  the  common  priests,  or  of  monks,  whose 
generals  reside  at  Rome,  and  who  despatch  their  orders  to 
all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  with  a  secrecy,  swiftness,  and  success 
which  are  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  mankind. 

Among  these  errors,  which  all  directly  promoted  the  ambi- 
tion, opulence,  and  pomp  of  the  priesthood,  the  following  may 

29 


30  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

be  enumerated  as  the  principal:  remission  of  sins;  auricular 
confession;  satisfaction  by  works;  judicial  absolution  from 
sin;  a  treasury  of  good  works  of  supererogation;  the  increase 
of  the  sacraments;  the  intention  of  the  priest  to  fulfil  the 
requisitions  made  by  the  church;  the  communion  in  both 
kinds;  novel  degrees  in  consanguinity;  priestly  celibacy; 
extreme  unction;  and  the  canonization  of  saints.  From 
which  dogmas  and  practices  flowed  those  strange  "  cere- 
monial antics,"  superfluous  temples,  altars,  and  festivals, 
which  were  indefinitely  multiplied,  that  the  myriads  of  indo- 
lent priests  might  have  an  income  for  their  support.  To  all 
which  may  be  added  the  prohibition  of  food,  the  anathemas, 
and  multitudes  of  lying  miracles,  which  were  first  invented  and 
are  still  practised,  solely  to  extract  money  from  those  persons 
of  wealth  who  were  imbued  with  deep  superstition.  All  those 
crafty  contrivances  immediately  strengthened  the  papal 
domination,  and  eventually  removed  from  the  earth  both  the 
jurisdiction  and  reign  of  Immanuel. 

II.  The  papacy  is  a  monarchical  government,  both  civil 
and  ecclesiastical,  founded  upon  the  pretext  of  divine  right  and 
supported  by  the  plea  of  religion. 

The  history  of  Europe  prior  to  the  Reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century  demonstrates  that  it  is  impossible  for  man- 
kind to  enjoy  peace  as  long  as  the  pontifical  power  is  tolerated. 
All  the  commotions  and  wars  of  Europe,  from  the  seventh 
century  to  the  sixteenth,  were  either  directly  instigated  or  in- 
directly encouraged  by  the  Italian  pontiffs.  The  power  of 
Rome  was  first  evolved  amid  public  calamities;  it  was  con- 
tinually strengthened  by  crime  and  treachery;  and  it  was 
finally  cemented  by  persecution  and  massacre. 

The  Roman  priests  and  friars  have  constantly  interfered 
in  all  the  civil  affairs  of  nations;  and  when  opposed  in  their 
unholy  manoeuvres,  they  "  have  turned  the  world  upside 
down  "  to  avenge  their  falsely  alleged  injuries.  All  their  eccle- 
siastical legions  have  been  called  into  action.     They  have 


The  Pontifical  Hierarchy  31 

embroiled  the  nations,  threatened  the  civil  authorities,  and 
convulsed  the  whole  order  of  society.  For  that  unholy  work 
the  prelates  have  been  endowed  with  large  salaries,  and  every 
factitious  appendage  and  honorable  title  have  been  contrived 
to  give  them  influence. 

The  papal  ecclesiastics  have  been  despatched  into  all 
countries,  by  every  artifice  to  subjugate  the  people. 
Through  fabulous  pictures,  vows  of  poverty,  professions  of 
self-denial,  and  "  lying  wonders,"  they  robbed  the  people  of 
every  blessing,  which  appertains  to  human  existence  upon 
earth.  The  monasteries  and  female  convents  which  they 
erected,  and  unto  which  they  inveigled  wealthy  and  thought- 
less youth,  and  in  which  "  sepulchres  of  goodness  and 
castles  of  misery  "  millions  of  persons  have  been  incarcerated 
as  if  in  a  tomb  while  living  —  those  edifices  were  the  privi- 
leged haunts  of  indolence,  sensuality,  and  the  most  flagrant 
and  inordinate  sins  in  all  their  incurable  rottenness.  Monks 
and  friars  and  nuns,  of  every  age  and  place  and  grade  and 
order  have  always  been  the  most  ignorant,  bigoted,  corrupt, 
selfish,  and  revengeful  transgressors.  Their  vows  of  union, 
secrecy,  and  servility  have  ever  rendered  them  the  most 
abject  tools  of  the  court  of  Rome,  and  the  strongest  pillars  of 
the  papal  supremacy  and  infallibility.  The  power  of  the 
Roman  pontiff  is  now,  as  it  always  has  been,  fearfully  for- 
midable, on  account  of  that  tremendous  jurisdiction  which  is 
thus  exercised ;  not  so  much  because  of  their  bold  and  des- 
perate seditions  and  rebellions,  as  of  the  impenetrable  secrecy 
with  which,  through  auricular  confession,  their  diabolical 
enterprises  are  continued  and  accomplished.  One  of  the 
popes  used  to  boast  that  he  had  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  thousand  parishes  and  forty-four  thousand  monasteries 
under  his  supreme  and  authoritative  control. 

Popish  priests,  whether  established  or  tolerated  in 
Protestant  countries,  their  pretended  oaths  of  homage  and 
fealty   are    irreconcilable     with    their    vows    of    canonical 


32  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

obedience,  and  their  professed  subjection  to  the  laws  is 
nullified  by  their  more  solemn  engagements  to  promote  and 
maintain  the  privileges  of  their  order  and  of  the  popedom. 

The  authority  of  legislation  and  jurisdiction  claimed  by  the 
pontiff  of  the  anti-Christian  apostacy  is  unlimited  and  supreme. 
"  He  not  only  pretends  that  the  whole  power  and  majesty  of 
the  church  reside  in  his  person,  and  are  transmitted  from  him 
to  the  inferior  bishops,  but  asserts  the  absolute  infallibility 
of  all  decisions  and  decrees  which  he  pronounces  from  his 
lordly  tribunal."  According  to  the  genuine  Romish  faith,  he 
is  "  the  only  visible  source  of  the  universal  power  which 
Christ  has  granted  to  the  church.  All  bishops  and  subor- 
dinate officers  derive  from  him  alone  their  authority  and  juris- 
diction. He  is  not  bound  by  any  laws  of  the  church  nor 
decrees  of  councils.  He  is  the  supreme  lawgiver  of  that 
sacred  community,  and  his  edicts  and  commands  it  is  in  the 
highest  degree  criminal  to  oppose  or  disobey." 

"  Angels  in  heaven  dare  not  aspire  to  the  authority  of  the 
priesthood.  The  hierarchs,  the  priests  of  the  church,  create 
their  Creator,  and  have  power  over  the  body  of  Christ.  The 
priesthood  walketh  hand  in  hand  with  the  Godhead,  and 
priests  are  Gods,  surpassing  as  much  in  dignity  the  royal 
office  as  the  soul  surpasseth  the  body.  The  power  of  priests 
is  so  great,  and  their  excellency  so  noble,  that  heaven  depends 
on  them.  Joshua  stopped  the  sun,  but  priests  stay  Christ. 
The  creature  obeyed  Joshua,  but  the  creator  obeys  the  priest. 

The  cardinal  points  of  popery  are  the  supremacy  and 
infallibility  of  the  papal  hierarchy.  Bellarmin,  "  De  Roman 
Pontiff,"  says  that  his  discussion,  "  agitur  de  summa  rei 
Christians,  includes  the  sum  of  Christianity,"  so  that  the 
unlimited  sway  of  the  pope,  according  to  him,  is  the  essence 
of  religion. 

The  claim  of  infallibility  is  still  more  preposterous  than 
that  of  universal  supremacy;  not  only  from  the  absurdity  of 
supposing  that  two  or  more  f allibles  can  make  one  infallible, 


The  Pontifical  Hierarchy  33 

but  also  on  account  of  the  character  of  the  parties  who  auda- 
ciously pretend  to  that  divine  prerogative. 

It  is  equally  true  that  many  of  the  popes  were  the  most 
impious  and  nefarious  sinners  who  ever  disgraced  the  char- 
acter of  humanity.  Platina  Vit.  Pontif.  declares  that  Bene- 
dict VIII,  Sylvester  III,  and  Gregory  VI  were  "  tria  teter- 
rima  monstra,  three  most  filthy  monsters."  The  same 
Popish  biographer  records  that  John  VIII  or  IX,  Benedict  IV, 
John  XVI,  Stephen  VI,  Boniface  VIII,  obtained  the  popedom 
by  treachery,  craft,  bribery,  murder,  and  pretended  witch- 
craft. Pope  Alexander  VI  had  two  sons  and  a  daughter,  and 
her  epitaph  contained  this  phrase:  ;'  Alexandri  filia,  sponsa, 
nurus;  daughter,  wife,  and  son's  wife."  Julius  II,  who  suc- 
ceeded him,  was  a  daring  and  notorious  scorner,  not  only  of 
religion,  but  of  all  decorum.  He  is  infamous  for  his  most 
inhuman  and  flagitious  crimes.  Leo  X,  through  whose 
prodigality  and  voluptuousness  the  Reformation  ostensibly 
commenced,  publicly  ridiculed  Christianity  as  a  fable,  and 
died  in  the  commission  of  the  unnatural  "  abomination." 
Lev.  viii.  22.  Genebrard,  Chronolog.,  Lib.  4,  Sec.  10, 
narrates  that  fifty  popes  from  John  VIII,  or  Popess  Joan,  to 
Leo  IX,  during  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  were  "  the  most 
profligate  and  execrable  villains  who  ever  lived  in  the  world." 
That  decision  is  fully  ratified  even  by  Baronius. 

It  is  also  indubitable,  that  more  than  one  pope  has  tyr- 
annized at  the  same  period.  During  the  :'  Babylonish 
captivity,"  as  the  Italian  papists  satirically  denounced  the 
period  of  the  pope's  residence  at  Avignon,  there  were  always 
two,  and  at  the  convocation  of  the  Council  of  Constance,  three 
popes,  all  of  whom  were  condemned  for  their  inordinate  trans- 
gressions. That  body,  aided  by  the  royal  authorities,  elected 
for  pope,  Martin  V  whose  daring  impiety,  treachery,  and 
wickedness,  exceeded  all  the  criminality  of  those  even  who 
were  ejected  for  their  insupportable  turpitude.  About  the 
year    1159   Pope  Alexander  III  contended  against  three 


34  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

competitors;  and  before  the  close  of  that  schism  three  more 
appeared  whose  title  to  the  triple  crown  was  equally  valid ;  so 
that  for  some  years  there  were  four,  five,  and  six  popes  at  the 
same  period,  all  equally  entitled  to  the  popedom,  and  every 
one  of  them  the  practical  illustration  of  a  demon  incarnate. 
In  the  year  975,  and  also  in  1045,  there  were  three  popes 
striving  for  the  triple  crown  and  pontifical  throne,  so  that  the 
popish  annalists  called  the  papacy  of  that  period  "  the  triple- 
headed  Cerberus!  "  Which  of  all  those  pretenders  was  the 
legitimate  infallible  ?  They  each  contradicted  and  they  each 
excommunicated  all  the  others.  Unless,  therefore,  flat  con- 
tradictions are  oracular  identities,  and  infallible  truth  is  the 
most  perverse  falsehood,  those  contradictions  destroy  all  the 
impious  claim  to  perfect  exemption  from  error.  To  which 
must  be  subjoined  the  fact,  that  popes,  upon  an  incalculable 
number  of  subjects  of  doctrine,  discipline,  ceremonies,  and 
morals,  have  differed  to  the  very  extremities  of  the  intellec- 
tual universe. 

Popes  themselves  have  confessed  their  own  liability  to  err. 
So  did  Alexander  IV  and  Innocent  IV  and  Clement  VI  and 
Urban  V,  and  the  annals  of  the  papacy  are  replete  with  in- 
stances of  the  most  absolute  and  direct  contradictions  be- 
tween the  decisions  of  the  pontiffs  upon  all  questions  of  faith, 
ceremonies,  discipline,  and  morals. 

Pope  Adrian  VI  exhibits  the  most  convincing  demonstra- 
tion of  the  general  proposition  that  the  boasted  infallibility 
is  an  imposture. 

Cardinal  Pole,  one  of  the  papal  legates  to  the  Council  of 
Trent,  in  a  work  published  by  order  of  Pope  Pius  IV,  and 
Andrasus,  who  was  a  member  of  that  assembly,  in  his  Defens. 
Cone.  Trident.,  Lib.  1,  both  have  demonstrated  that  the 
Council  of  Trent  was  fallible.    Stapfer  de  Papismo,  Num.  341 . 

The  pope  with  a  council  cannot  be  an  infallible  judge  of 
articles  of  faith. 

The  pope  is  fallible,  and  a  council  is  fallible,  but  two 


The  Pontifical  Hierarchy  35 

fallibles  cannot  make  one  infallible.  Either,  therefore,  the 
pope  must  communicate  his  infallibility  to  the  council,  or  the 
council  must  bestow  theirs  upon  the  pope,  but  as  neither  of 
them  possess  that  attribute  so  neither  of  them  can  impart  it. 

One  of  the  most  inexplicable  of  all  the  inquiries  connected 
with  this  subject  is  this:  how  men  so  scandalously  outrageous 
and  vile  as  were  a  large  majority  of  the  popes,  such  prover- 
bially profligate,  profane,  impious,  lewd  murderers,  that  they 
have  no  counterpart  in  society  except  among  the  cardinals 
and  the  chief  retainers  of  the  apostacy,  could  have  been  sup- 
ported during  so  long  a  period.  One  solution  only  can  be 
adduced  —  the  universal  degeneracy  inclined  all  orders  of  the 
people  "  to  embrace  evil  doctrines,  and  to  engage  in  false 
worship  "  ;  while  the  easy  commutation  for  their  transgres- 
sions by  means  of  auricular  confession,  penance,  and  the  tax 
for  absolution  united  their  energies  to  maintain  a  system, 
which  indulged  their  vicious  propensities  to  the  widest  range 
and  quieted  their  consciences  by  the  guarantee  of  pardon, 
security,  and  peace. 

A  condensed  summary  of  the  principal  objections  against 
the  Romish  anti-Christian  system  will  properly  close  this  con- 
cise review.  The  papal  hierarchy  has  no  sanction  or  authority 
for  its  existence  in  the  sacred  oracles,  except  in  the  awful  con- 
demnatory denunciations  with  which  it  is  always  delineated. 
It  expunges  the  right  of  private  examination  and  judgment 
on  all  literary,  moral,  and  religious  topics.  It  "prohibits 
liberty  of  mind,  speech,  writing,  and  printing;  it  debases  the 
soul  and  character  of  man,  and  is  the  unceasing,  implacable 
foe  of  education,  science,  improvement,  and  reason." 

An  accurate  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  immense  sums  of 
money  which  were  constantly  flowing  towards  Rome  when 
we  consider  that  there  was  a  constant  traffic  in  images,  pur- 
gatory, relics,  pilgrimages,  indulgences,  jubilees,  canoniza- 
tions, miracles,  masses,  tithes,  annats,  Peter's  pence,  investi- 
tures, appeals,  reservations,  bulls,  and  expectatives,  which 


36  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

ever  drained  the  impoverished  people.  The  manufacture  of 
a  new  saint  costs  one  hundred  thousand  crowns.  An  arch- 
bishop's pall,  a  small  white  woolen  rag  not  worth  five  cents, 
costs  about  fifty-five  hundred  dollars,  but  in  the  year  1250  the 
Archbishop  of  York  paid  one  thousand  pounds  for  the  pall; 
which,  reckoning  the  difference  in  the  value  of  money, 
would  amount  to  nearly  five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In 
reference  to  that  foolery  the  poet  Baptist  Mantuan  said: 

"  Si  quid  Roma  dabit,  nugas  dabit,  accipit  aurum, 
Verba  dat:  heu  Romse  nunc  sola  pecunia  regnat."  * 

The  money  thus  drained  from  the  various  nations  by  the 
papal  robbers,  called  priests  and  friars,  amounted  to  almost 
double  all  the  other  national  expenditures.  The  harvest  at 
Rome  was  in  exact  proportion  to  the  credulity,  superstition, 
and  wickedness  of  mankind.  It  is  therefore  easily  under- 
stood how  much  those  profitable  delinquencies  would  be 
encouraged,  and  how  eagerly  such  capital  stock  would  be  im- 
proved by  those  who  traded  in  the  popish  merchandise  of 
"  the  souls  of  men." 

*Rome  gives  trifles  and  words  and  receives  gold. 
Money  alone  rules  at  Rome. 


The  Papal  Interdicts 

Of  all  the  extraordinary  and  gratuitous  injustice  and 
cruelty  with  which  the  papacy  is  chargeable,  probably  the 
interdict  is  the  most  atrocious. 

England,  during  the  time  of  King  John,  because  he  would 
not  submit  to  the  papal  usurpations  and  plunders,  was  under 
the  papal  interdict  during  six  years,  and  suffered  indescribable 
anguish.  After  he  had  reluctantly  submitted  to  the  pope,  he 
was  poisoned  by  a  monk  who  had  been  specially  absolved  by 
his  abbot  to  perpetrate  that  regicide.  Henry  II,  king  of 
England,  in  consequence  of  his  dispute  with  that  Traitor 
Saint  Thomas  Becket,  to  save  his  people  from  an  interdict, 
was  obliged  to  ratify  the  most  degrading  conditions  imposed 
by  the  pope's  legate,  and  afterwards  to  walk  barefooted  above 
three  miles  in  penance  over  sharp  stones.  He  also  received 
eighty  strokes  for  a  scourging  from  the  hands  of  several 
priests  and  monks,  before  the  tomb  and  image  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical rebel,  as  an  expiation  for  his  atrocious  sin  in  opposing 
the  universal  civil  supremacy  of  the  Roman  pontiff  and  his 
hierarchy.  Sleidan's  Key  to  History,  p.  289,  Hist,  of 
England,  Henry  II. 

One  of  the  British  earls  had  imprisoned  a  prelate.  He 
was  eventually  surprised  and  captured.  Pope  Sylvester  II 
ordered  the  earl  to  be  tied  to  two  wild  horses,  and  his  mangled 
corpse  was  afterwards  exposed  on  the  public  road  without 
sepulture.     Innet's  Origin es  Anglicanse,  Vol.  2. 

These  facts  are  fully  confirmed  by  the  declaration  of  a 
famous  popish  author,  Augustus  Triumphus,  who  in  his 
Pref.  Sum.  to  John  XXII  used  these  words:  "  The  pope's 
power  is  infinite;  for  great  is  the  Lord,  and  great  is  his  power, 
and  of  his  greatness  there  is  no  end."  The  Romish  parasite 
could  not  thus  blasphemously  have  magnified  the  pontifical 
beneficence. 

37 


Priestly  Celibacy 

Puffendorf,  in  his  Introduction  to   the  History  of  Europe, 
Cap.  12,  sect.  32,  illustrates  the  prohibition  of  marriage  to 
priests  in  this  forcible  language.        The  ecclesiastics  being 
freed  from  the  care  of  wives  and  children,  are  more  devoted 
to  the  interest  of  the  papacy.     By  their  celibacy  they  are 
not   tempted    to    attach    themselves    to    the    sovereigns    in 
whose  dominions    they    reside;    they    have    no    excuse  for 
appropriating  any  part  of  the  ecclesiastical   spoils    for  the 
subsistence  of  their  families;     and  they  are    better    quali- 
fied, and  always  ready  to  execute  the  orders  of  the  pope, 
particularly  against  their  own  sovereigns,  whose  displeasure 
they  dread  not,  when  they  can  so  easily  remove  from  their 
jurisdiction.     Thus  having  no  care  but  for  themselves  and 
their  order,  the  pope  has  taught  them  to  abandon  all  the 
associations  of  life  without  feeling,  and  has  released  them  from 
all  secular  power  and  jurisdiction,  that  he  might  more  se- 
curely retain  them  as  his  own  vassals." 

The  law  of  priestly  celibacy,  we  are  assured  by  the  Apostle 
Paul,  1  Tim.  iv.  1-3,  is  "  the  doctrine  of  devils,"  which 
never  was  enforced  until  the  hierarchy  became  too  powerful 
to  be  resisted.  That  unholy  machination,  which  has  always 
and  universally  been  the  source  of  the  most  scandalous  dis- 
orders and  turpitude,  has  ever  been  held  as  the  most  inviol- 
able and  essential  part  of  the  papal  system. 

John  Pye  Smith  thus  writes:  "  The  forced  celibacy  of  the 
priesthood  '  grows  immediately  out  of  ecclesiastical  usurpa- 
tion. This,  in  combination  with  private  confession,  proves 
the  occasion  of  criminalities  which  poison  the  very  springs 
of  domestic  virtue,  and  which  the  degraded  state  of  public 
morals  in   the  countries  where  they  prevail  scarcely  urges 

38 


Priestly  Celibacy  39 

to  disguise.'"  At  the  close  of  the  Council  of  Trent  a  re- 
monstrance was  presented  to  Pope  Pius  IV  by  the  Roman 
priests  of  Germany,  which  was  supported  by  the  emperor 
and  the  Elector  of  Bavaria.  '  But  why  is  this  anti-scrip- 
tural and  iniquitous  law  permitted  to  pollute  the  papacy? 
Because  it  cuts  off  the  priesthood  from  family  attachments 
and  patriotic  connections;  it  more  closely  intwines  their 
personal  feelings  with  the  interest  of  their  order;  it  thus  makes 
them  an  army  of  devoted  janizaries  of  the  pope;  and  power- 
fully attracts  into  the  coffers  of  the  church  whatever  property 
the  individual  priests  may  acquire.  Can  such  a  system  fail 
to  be  the  fruitful  parent  of  all  immorality  ?  "  Reasons  of 
the  Protestant  Religion. 

To  establish  and  secure  the  ecclesiastical  monarchy,  Pope 
Gregory  VII  changed  the  ancient  profession  of  canonical 
obedience  into  the  form  of  an  oath  similar  to  that  required 
by  the  emperor  and  other  monarchs  of  their  feudal  vassals. 
It  was  imposed  with  dreadful  imprecations  annexed  to  it. 


Jesuit's  Oath  of  Secrecy 

"I,  A.  B.,  now  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  the 
blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the  blessed  Michael  the  archangel,  the 
blessed  St.  John  Baptist,  the  holy  apostles  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul,  and  the  saints  and  sacred  host  of  heaven,  and  to  you  my 
ghostly  father,  do  declare  from  my  heart,  without  mental 
reservation,  that  his  holiness  Pope  Urban  is  Christ's  vicar- 
general,  and  is  the  true  and  only  head  of  the  Catholic  or 
Universal  Church  throughout  the  earth;  and  that  by  the 
virtue  of  the  keys  of  binding  and  loosing  given  to  his  holiness 
by  my  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  he  hath  power  to  depose  heretical 
kings,  princes,  states,  commonwealths,  and  governments,  all 
being  illegal,  without  his  sacred  confirmation,  and  that  they 
may  safely  be  destroyed :  therefore  to  the  utmost  of  my  power 
I  shall  and  will  defend  this  doctrine,  and  his  holiness'  rights 
and  customs  against  all  usurpers  of  the  heretical  or  Protestant 
authority  whatsoever:  especially  against  the  now  pretended 
authority  and  Church  of  England,  and  all  adherents,  in  re- 
gard that  they  and  she  be  usurpal  and  heretical,  opposing 
the  sacred  mother  church  of  Rome.  I  do  renounce  and 
disown  any  allegiance  as  due  to  any  heretical  king,  prince, 
or  state,  named  Protestants,  or  obedience  to  any  of  their 
inferior  magistrates  or  officers.  I  do  further  declare  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  of  the  Calvinists, 
Huguenots,  and  of  others  of  the  name  of  Protestants,  to  be 
damnable,  and  they  themselves  are  damned,  and  to  be 
damned,  that  will  not  forsake  the  same.  I  do  further  de- 
clare, that  I  will  help,  assist,  and  advise  all,  or  any  of  his 
holiness'  agents  in  any  place,  wherever  I  shall  be,  in  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  or  in  any  other  territory  or  kingdom 
I  shall  come  to,  and  do  my  utmost  to  extirpate  the  heretical 

40 


Jesuits  Oath  of  Secrecy  41 

Protestants'   doctrine,   and   to   destroy  all   their  pretended 
powers,  regal  or  otherwise.     I  do  further  promise  and  de- 
clare, that  notwithstanding  I  am  dispensed  with  to  assume 
any  religion  heretical  for  the  propagation   of   the   mother 
church's  interest,  to  keep  secret  and  private  all  her  agent's 
counsels  from  time  to  time,  as  they  intrust  me,  and  not  to 
divulge  directly  or  indirectly,  by  word,  writing,  or  circum- 
stance, whatsoever;  but  to  execute  all  what  shall  be  proposed, 
given  in  charge,  or  discovered  unto  me  by  you  my  ghostly 
father,  or  by  any  of  this  sacred  convent.     All  which  I,  A.  B., 
do  swear  by  the  blessed  Trinity,  and  blessed  Sacrament, 
which  I  now  am  to  receive,  to  perform,  and  on  my  part  to 
keep  inviolably.     And  do  call  all  the  heavenly  and  glori- 
ous host  of  heaven  to  witness  these  my  real  intentions,  and 
to  keep  this  my  oath.     In  testimony  hereof,  I  take  this  most 
holy  and  blessed  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist;    and  witness 
the  same  further  with  my  hand  and  seal  in  the  face  of  this 
holy  convent." —  Foxes  and  Firebrands.     Usher. 

The  antiquated  form,  which  is  of  similar  import,  can  be 
found  in  Baronius,  who  thus  concludes  his  account  of  it. 
"  Hactenus  juramentum,  etc.  That  is  the  oath  which  to  that 
period  all  the  prelates  used  to  take."  An.  723,  and  1079. 
Lab.  Concil.  Tom.  10,  p.  1504;   and  Tom.  11,  p.  1565. 


Historical  Notices  of  Jesuitism 

Jesuitism  was  legalized  by  the  bull  of  Pope  Paul  III,  1540. 
Its  inventor,  Ignatius  Loyola,  triumphed  over  all  the  opposi- 
tion which  was  made  to  his  scheme  by  adding  a  novel  vow 
to  those  which  were  then  professed  by  the  monastic  orders. 
To  the  three  vows,  "  to  maintain  chastity,  obedience,  and 
poverty,"  Ignatius  subjoined  unqualified  submission  to  the 
sovereign  pontiff.  Hence  the  government  of  the  Jesuits  is  an 
absolute  monarchy;  for  everything  is  decided  by  the  sole 
decree  of  the  general.  Ignatius  was  the  first  and  Lainez  the 
second  master  of  the  order. 

The  Jesuits  speedily  established  themselves  in  Europe, 
Asia,  and  America;  penetrated  into  all  classes  of  society; 
wheedled  the  people  by  the  exterior  forms  of  devotion;  and 
applied  themselves  above  all  things  to  cajole  the  great;  by 
which  they  acquired  vast  power  and  ruled  their  masters. 

At  a  very  early  period  after  the  establishment  of  the  order 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  France  proclaimed 
that  "  the  society  was  dangerous  to  the  Christian  faith,  dis- 
turbers of  the  peace,  and  more  fitted  to  corrupt  than  to  edify." 

The  Jesuits  were  implicated  in  the  assassination  of  Henry 
III,  of  France;  planned  the  Spanish  Armada;  often  con- 
trived the  death  of  Elizabeth  of  England;  invented  the 
gunpowder  plot;  instigated  the  murder  of  Henry  rV  of 
France;  impelled  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes; 
ruined  James  II;  and  were  commingled  with  all  the  atroc- 
ities and  miseries  which  desolated  Europe  during  nearly  two 
hundred  years.  So  atrocious,  extensive,  and  continual  were 
their  crimes  that  they  were  expelled,  either  partially  or  gen- 
erally, from  all  the  different  countries  of  Europe,  at  various 
intervals  prior  to  the  abolition  of  the  order  in  1773,  thirty-nine 

42 


Historical  Notices  of  Jesuitism  43 

times,  a  fact  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  any  other  body 
of  men  ever  known  in  the  world.  This  is  the  seal  of 
reprobation  stamped  upon  Jesuitism. 

What  crimes  among  governments  have  they  not  com- 
mitted !  what  chicanery  in  courts  and  families!  what  knavery, 
despotism,  and  audacity  in  violating  covenants,  defying 
power,  and  falsifying  truth  and  right!  Ambiguous  and  eva- 
sive subtleties  of  language  always  permitted  them  to  choose 
that  which  promoted  their  interests.  The  choice  of  means 
never  embarrassed  them.  Everything  was  rectified  by  the 
doctrine  of  intention.  In  all  places  they  would  exclusively 
rule;  and  abettors  of  every  species  of  despotism,  in  all  times 
and  situations,  they  loaded  the  nations  with  an  insupportable 
yoke,  and  fettered  them  in  the  most  galling  chains. 

What  other  monastic  order  ever  realized  thirty-nine  expul- 
sions, and  yet  by  their  artifice  could  procure  the  restoration 
of  their  craft?  What  other  order  of  men  ever  saw  their 
dogmas,  thousands  of  the  very  vilest  doctrines,  condemned 
by  courts  of  justice,  and  censured  by  universities  and  theo- 
logians ?  WThat  other  order  ever  was  so  implicated  in  crimes 
of  treason  and  tragedies  of  blood,  both  public  and  private, 
and  has  continued  during  its  whole  existence,  to  live  at 
war  with  all  mankind  ? 

The  instructions  of  the  Jesuits  have  been  developed  by 
Pascal;  in  the  decrees  of  the  Sorbonne;  the  censures  of  uni- 
versities; the  denunciations  of  parliaments;  and  the  papal 
condemnation.  The  number  of  authors  approved  by  the 
Jesuits,  who  have  written  in  direct  opposition  to  all  religion 
and  morals,  is  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  —  all  which  works 
are  admitted  as  infallible  authority  on  every  casuistical 
question. 

Upon  probable  opinions,  50;  philosophical  sin,  invincible 
ignorance,  and  an  erroneous  conscience,  33;  simony,  14; 
blasphemy  and  sacrilege,  7;  irreligion,  35;  immodesty,  17; 
perjury  and  false  witness,  28;    prevarication  of  judges,  5; 


44  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

theft,  secret  compensation,  and  concealment  of  property,  33 ; 
homicide,  36;  treason,  68.  Those  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  most  wicked  and  dangerous  publications  were  condemned, 
at  different  periods,  by  forty  universities;  one  hundred  pre- 
lates; three  provincial  synods;  seven,  general  assemblies;  and 
forty-eight  decrees,  briefs,  letters  apostolic,  and  papal  bulls 
from  Rome. 

He  who  mentions  an  armed  despotism  against  freedom, 
intelligence,  and  prosperity,  names  Jesuitism,  which  ever  has 
been  the  inseparable  companion  of  military  force  and  abso- 
lute power. 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  Jesuitism;  and  its  most  active  and 
undisguised  organ  thus  advised  royalty  in  France  and  Spain: 
"  Never  embark  upon  the  stormy  sea  of  deliberative  assem- 
blies; nor  surrender  your  absolute  character  and  authority." 

The  Jesuits  proscribe  general  instruction,  because  it  is  too 
favorable  to  the  progress  of  intelligence  among  the  people. 
They  maintain  that  public  tuition  should  be  remitted  en- 
tirely to  the  Romish  clergy  for  boys  and  to  nuns  for  girls. 
They  affirm  that  the  liberty  of  the  press  is  Pandora's  box, 
and  the  source  of  all  evil. 

Popery,  and  especially  Jesuitism,  by  the  instrumentality 
of  the  priesthood,  takes  possession  of  all  that  constitutes 
human  life.  It  lays  its  iron  hand  upon  all  civil  relations. 
This  is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  system  which  ever  subsists 
in  the  court  of  Rome. 

Pope  Pius  VII,  in  a  rescript  addressed  to  his  nuncio  at 
Venice,  asserted  his  pontifical  right  to  depose  sovereigns  — 
"  although  it  is  not  always  convenient  to  exercise  the  juris- 
diction." 

The  Jesuits  are  a  body  of  men  whose  political  principles 
are  so  dangerous  that  they  have  been  excluded  from  almost 
every  country  in  which  they  were  residents;  which  act  was 
full  of  sound  policy  and  wise  preservation. 


Character  and  Proceedings  of  Jesuitism 

As  an  absolute  monarchy,  Jesuitism  surpasses  in 
despotism  every  arbitrary  tyrant,  by  the  boundless  power 
granted  to  the  general,  and  from  him  to  the  superiors;  by  that 
obedience  imposed  upon  the  inferiors,  which  annihilates  all 
their  own  will;  by  the  doctrine  of  extravagant  authority, 
which  exceeds  even  the  claims  of  Asiatic  sovereignty ;  by  the 
support  of  associates  taken  from  its  bosom,  a  tribute  raised 
from  all  kinds  of  credulity,  fear,  and  ambition;  and  by  its 
secret  ramifications,  which  gives  it  eyes  and  ears  and  hands 
everywhere,  all  of  which  are  occupied  in  penetrating  and 
communicating  to  the  chief,  the  secrets  of  states,  families,  and 
individuals,  thus  uniting  them  as  in  a  common  center. 
Hence  was  formed  that  Jesuitism  which  filled  the  world, 
which  engrossed  its  concerns  during  two  hundred  years,  and 
which  again  demands  its  former  supremacy. 

Ignatius  thus  addressed  the  Vatican:  "  Light  makes  war 
upon  you.  We  will  carry  intelligence  to  some,  darken 
knowledge  in  others,  and  direct  it  in  all."  At  Madrid,  that 
knight  errant  of  popery  proclaimed:  "  The  human  mind  is 
awakened.  If  its  energy  is  not  extinguished,  all  eyes  will  be 
opened ;  and  an  alliance  will  be  formed  incompatible  with  the 
ancient  subjection.  Men  will  search  for  rights  of  which  they 
are  now  ignorant;  the  throne  will  lose  its  lofty  prejudices, 
and  its  power  will  vanish  with  its  enchantments." 

Jesuitism  knew  that  the  empire  of  the  world  is  not  ob- 
tained at  the  foot  of  the  altar;  but  that  it  is  the  reward  of  ob- 
stinate labor,  and  of  time  occupied  in  the  severest  exercises. 
The  Jesuit  regards  the  world  as  an  arena,  and  himself  as  a 
competitor  who  must  never  desert  the  lists.  Full  of  this  ex- 
citement, Jesuitism  leaves  other  monks  to  count  beads,  and 

45 


46  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

pray  seven  times  daily.  Its  object  is  of  a  higher  destiny, — 
to  govern  the  world;  to  seize  it  at  all  points;  and  like  a  skilful 
general,  it  seeks  and  assigns  employ  to  all  its  members.  The 
weak  are  stationed  around  the  altars,  to  attract  by  their  sanc- 
timonious fervor;  the  learned  fill  the  chairs  of  sacred  and 
profane  literature;  the  crafty  attach  themselves  to  those  in 
exalted  stations,  that  by  their  means  they  may  obtain  and 
direct  power  for  their  own  advantage;  and  the  strong  go 
forth  to  proselyte.  This  was  a  vast  and  artful  plan;  and  to 
fulfil  it,  a  sagacity  in  the  means  of  execution  was  demanded 
equal  to  that  which  presided  at  its  formation. 

What  government  could  suit  and  adapt  itself  to  an  order 
of  things  so  boundless  and  lofty?  An  absolute  monarchy. 
How  is  this  monarchy  conducted  ?  By  the  command  of  one 
over  all;  and  in  the  obedience  of  all  to  that  same  one. 
Hence  the  tyranny  of  Jesuitism  is  the  most  complete  of  all 
those  which  despots  ever  tried;  for  the  general  of  the  Jesuits 
is  the  true  Supreme;  and  all  the  Superiors,  who  are  delegates 
of  this  outrageous  power,  like  their  master,  are  absolute. 
Under  this  double  weight  the  subject  must  remain  crushed. 

Jesuitism  cannot  dispense  with  skilful  workmen,  and 
excels  in  the  choice  of  its  agents.  It  possesses  in  the  highest 
degree  the  quality  of  attraction,  and  of  judgment  in  the 
dispositions  of  youth;  so  that  they  may  be  made  desirous 
to  unite  with  the  order.  Before  its  mansion  is  displayed  a 
golden  door;  hence  it  is  acceptable  and  sought  after  by  the 
great,  desired  by  the  humble,  dreaded  by  the  weak,  and  sup- 
ported by  the  powerful. 

The  Jesuit  general  is  served  by  a  zealous  militia,  an  incal- 
culable number  of  devoted  volunteers  everywhere  present. 
Thus  information  arrives  by  a  thousand  ways,  and  places  the 
whole  world  under  the  watchful  control  of  the  chief.  A  sover- 
eign who  wished  to  know  all  that  was  passing  in  other  nations 
had  only  to  use  Jesuitical  policy,  and  to  apply  to  the  general 
of  the  order. 


Character  and  Proceedings  of  Jesuitism      47 

Jesuitism  knew  that  concealed  and  innumerable  ways, 
leading  to  a  common  center,  are  a  powerful  means  of  direc- 
tion and  fear.  Men  dread  to  declare  their  opinions  and  to 
act  concerning  those  whom  they  expect  to  meet  at  all  times 
and  in  every  situation. 

The  spirit  of  domination  is  the  soul  of  Jesuitism,  which 
sways  the  temporal  power  by  the  spiritual  authority.  Intoler- 
ance, with  the  mixture  of  that  control,  has  been  the  most 
prolific  source  of  all  those  evils  which  ever  have  afflicted 
humanity.  False  notions  and  incorrect  apprehensions  en- 
gender collisions.  In  that  deceitful  art  Jesuitism  is  Grand 
Master.  It  formerly  kept  a  school  for  it,  and  from  its  books 
the  order  made  a  trade  and  merchandise  —  and  they  are  now 
resuming  their  occupation  with  all  their  arsenal  of  reserva- 
tions, subtleties,  and  equivocations. 


Jesuitism  Incompatible  with  Constitutional 
Order  and  the  Liberty  of  the  Press 

What  is  the  liberty  of  the  press  ?  A  sentinel  destined  to 
warn  us  of  all  the  movements  made  by  the  enemies  of  society, 
that  we  may  be  guarded  against  surprise.  But  how  can  this 
accord  with  Jesuitism?  The  liberty  of  the  press  is  regular 
freedom,  but  Jesuitism  is  arbitrary  despotism.  That  seeks 
the  utmost  publicity;  this  conceals  itself  in  crooked  and 
hidden  paths.  That  is  sincere;  but  Jesuitism  is  one  entire 
mass  of  mental  reservations,  subterfuges,  equivocations,  and 
secret  intentions  contrary  to  open  acts.  That  demands  re- 
ligious liberty;  but  Jesuitism  enacts  Roman  intolerance. 
That  proposes  the  development  of  the  human  intellect; 
Jesuitism  is  its  restraining  tyrant.  The  liberty  of  the  press 
displays  those  broad  openings  to  industry,  commerce,  and 
the  innumerable  occupations  which  supply  all  the  wants  of 
society;  Jesuitism  is  the  art  to  create  and  prolong  collisions. 
Therefore,  constitutional  order  cannot  exist,  or  Jesuitism 
must  be  extinct;  they  are  totally  incompatible  with  each 
other.  Hatred  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  is  essential  to  Jesuit- 
ism; but  as  constitutional  order  is  inseparable  from  the 
freedom  of  the  press,  it  follows  that  Jesuitism  is  at  per- 
manent and  unchangeable  hostility  with  both  those  essen- 
tials of  national  prosperity. 

One  of  the  chiefs  of  a  sound  and  correct  philosophy  pub- 
licly declared  in  France  that  affairs  had  attained  such  a  crisis 

that  "  JESUITISM  AND  PUBLIC  LIBERTY  ARE  IRRECONCILABLE; 
AND  THAT  THE  REPUBLICS  OF  SOUTH  AMERICA,  IN  ADOPTING 
POPERY  AS  THEIR  ESTABLISHED  RELIGION,  WERE  GUILTY  OF 

national   suicide."     But   expansive   ideas   germinate   not 

48 


Jesuitism  Incompatible  with  Liberty  of  Press  49 

where  Jesuitism  sways;   for  its  blasting  breath  dries  up  and 
withers  everything  it  infects. 

Since  the  French  Revolution  in  1789,  society,  reclaiming 
its  legitimate  rights,  separated  the  civil  marriage  from  the 
religious  ceremony.  Before  that  period  the  priest  com- 
bined a  civil  office  with  his  ecclesiastical  character.  His 
register  regulated  the  state  of  citizens.  Thus  by  a  strange 
confusion  of  ideas,  and  the  consequence  of  this  deplorable 
mixture  of  spiritual  and  temporal  things,  which  has  caused 
so  much  evil  in  the  world,  a  religious  act  conferred  civil  rights, 
and  a  priest  determined  the  condition  of  citizens. 

The  Society  of  Jesuits  was  avowedly  organized  to  counter- 
act the  influence  of  resuscitated  Christianity.     They  nearly 
superseded  all  the  other  orders,  and  now  constitute  the  Roman 
pontiff's  "  body  guard,"  expressly  to  defend  the  papal  cor- 
ruptions, and  by  every  possible  means  to  exterminate  all 
persons  who  will  not  submit  to  the  Romish  priesthood.     The 
government  of  the  order  is  the  absolute  despotism  of  an  in- 
dividual,   exercising  his  undisputed  control  over  the  destiny, 
persons,  conduct,  belief,  words,  thoughts,  and  purposes  of 
every  devotee  belonging  to  that  nefarious  association.     All 
their  principles,  rules,  and  acts  are  comprised  in  one  vow,  "  at 
all  times  to  go  upon  any  service,  and  to  execute  every  man- 
date "  of  the  general  of  the  order,  promptly,  and  without 
hesitation;  that  is,  "  it  is  an  oath  of  unqualified  obedience  to 
the  pope."     Their  diabolical  tenets,  their  anti-social  intrigues, 
their  intolerable  corruptions,  and  the  innumerable  murders, 
and  treasons,  and  wide  spread  desolations  which  they  had 
perpetrated,  coerced  almost  every  government  in  Europe  to 
banish  them  from  their  countries.     Still  they  survived  under 
the  name  of  St.  Sulpicius,  Cordicoles,  Freres  de  la  Croix,  and 
other  titles.     Pope  Clement  XIV,  as  he  supposed,  by    his 
pontifical  authority,  suppressed  them  in  1773;   for  which  act 
they  poisoned  their  "  Infallible  Supreme."     Notwithstand- 
ing the  execrations  of  every  Christian,  the  opposition  of  all 


50  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

civilized  nations,  the  denunciations  and  curses  of  popes  and 
potentates,  and  their  exterminating  decrees  and  laws,  that 
detestable  society  yet  exists;  and  from  documents  discovered 
at  Montrogue,  one  of  their  magnificent  establishments  near 
Paris,  since  the  expulsion  of  Charles  X  from  France,  in  1830, 
it  is  ascertained  that  they  then  amounted  to  22,787;  of  whom 
11,010  were  priests,  which  number  has  certainly  increased; 
and  that  they  then  possessed  sixty-one  institutions  for 
Novices,  Jesuits  of  the  first  class;  and  669  colleges  for 
Scholars,  Jesuits  of  the  second  class;  and  176  seminaries 
for  Coadjutors,  Jesuits  of  the  third  class;  and  twenty-four 
houses  for  the  Professed,  the  highest  and  finished  class  of 
the  order,  who  alone  are  considered  the  perfectly  accom- 
plished Jesuits. 

It  is  a  very  important  consideration  in  connection  with  this 
topic,  that  the  Jesuits  enacted  the  following  rule:  "  No 
volume  shall  be  published  by  any  of  the  members  without  the 
approbation  of  the  superiors."  Provincial  Letters  5,  9. 
Whence  it  follows,  that  the  whole  order  are  responsible  for 
every  dogma  contained  in  any  works  of  the  Jesuits,  unless  it 
has  been  expressly  condemned.  From  which  fact,  as  com- 
bined with  the  preceding  testimonies,  which  are  extracted 
from  the  works  of  the  most  renowned  Jesuit  authors,  it  is 
most  manifest  that  modern  popery  is  grossly  immoral  and 
inexpressibly  corrupting;  that  it  destroys  all  sense  of  recip- 
rocal obligation;  that  it  injures  civil  society  through  all  its 
ramifications;  that  it  is  totally  incompatible  with  public  order 
and  all  righteous  government;  that  it  is  destructive  of  do- 
mestic confidence  and  national  safety;  and  consequently  that 
a  system,  the  principal  characteristic  of  which  is  this, —  that 
it  teaches  and  fosters  every  species  of  iniquity,  and  "  trains  up 
youth  to  villainy  by  rule," —  ought  not  to  be  tolerated  in  any 
civilized  nations,  and  much  less  among  a  people  denominated 
and  professing  to  be  Christians. 


Danger  of  Jesuitism 

The  popedom,  it  is  now  supposed,  numbers  one  hundred 
and  twenty  millions  of  vassals,  with  four  hundred  thousand 
active  priests,  everywhere  scattered,  having  but  one  chief, — 
for  whom  respect  increases  by  distance.  Irish  and  American 
priests  are  more  obsequious  to  the  Roman  pontiff  than  the 
German  or  French  ecclesiastics.  He  is  the  head  of  that  im- 
mense family  of  traitorous  spies  and  of  that  universally 
present  ecclesiastical  militia.  He  numbers  more  minions 
than  any  other  sovereign.  They  have  subjects  only  in  their 
own  territory;  the  pope  claims  them  in  all  countries.  They 
only  command  the  exterior  homage;  the  pope  rules  the  in- 
terior and  penetrates  the  heart,  for  conscience  is  the  seat  of  his 
empire.  If  the  whole  world  were  papal  he  would  control  the 
world,  being  directly  served  by  millions  of  priests  devoted  to 
the  worship  of  him  as  supreme.  That  power,  as  it  already  in 
former  ages  in  Europe  has  disturbed,  would  shake  the  universe. 

In  Ireland,  Holland,  and  the  United  States  all  Roman 
affairs  are  managed  by  vicars  apostolic,  as  in  countries  regu- 
lated by  missions.  That  system  is  highly  approved  at  Rome, 
because  it  supplies  the  means  of  that  court  being  everywhere 
sovereign.  The  priests  of  the  United  States,  like  those  of 
Ireland,  are  extremely  devoted  to  the  pope.  They  are  very 
rigorous  in  their  exactions.  In  due  time  they  will  embarrass 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  as  those  of  Ireland  have 
disconcerted  the  British  government,  and  as  those  of  Holland 
have  troubled  their  sovereign.  In  all  the  course  of  the  Jesuits 
there  is  something  so  unmanageable  that  their  proceedings 
should  be  terminated  at  once,  by  decided  opposition. 

We  may  however  rejoice  that  America  advances  toward 
Europe  with  the  social  contract,  constitutional  order,  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press  in  her  hand,  inviting  the  old  world  to 
imitate  her  example  and  enjoy  her  privileges. 

51 


52  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Nevertheless,  human  society  is  fearfully  menaced  by  the 
atrocious  revival  of  the  order  of  Jesuits;  and  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  its  principles,  which  engender  and  promote  every 
private  and  public  collision  and  disorder.  Away  with 
Jesuitism. —  De  Pradt,  "  Jesuitisme  Ancien  el  Moderne." 

Our  country  is  in  jeopardy.  We  have  in  our  midst  a  dark, 
insidious,  and  treacherous  enemy,  who  is  endeavoring  to  ele- 
vate himself  on  the  overthrow  of  our  freedom  and  the  exter- 
mination of  Christianity.  "  Unless  the  people  awake  from 
their  dreamy  confidence  and  false  charity,  and  rouse  their 
energies  to  a  universal  and  persevering  opposition  to  that 
artful,  insinuating,  and  dangerous  traitor,  the  popish  priest- 
hood, ere  long  we  may  realize  the  terrors,  cruelties,  tortures, 
and  massacres  which  our  ancestors  endured.  Therefore, 
blow  the  trumpet  of  alarm,  cry  mightily  against  the  abomina- 
tions of  the  secret  places ;  and  fervently  pray  that  God  would 
accomplish  His  promise,  and  'consume  the  mystery  of  iniquity 
and  the  working  of  Satan,  with  the  spirit  of  His  mouth,  and 
with  the  brightness  of  His  coming.'  " 

There  are  many  interesting  chapters,  among 
others,  ' '  Decrees  and  Canons  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,"  which  should  be  read  by  every  one  inter- 
ested in  the  subject,  and  which  time  and  space 
do  not  admit  treating  in  this  volume.  However 
much  one  may  regret  the  practices  and  livings 
of  popes,  cardinals,  bishops,  priests,  vicegerents  of 
God,  and  vicars  of  Christ,  in  the  past  centuries,  it  is 
right  and  proper  the  truth  should  be  known,  the 
bad  as  well  as  the  good;  and  with  knowledge  ob- 
tained from  the  preceding  papers  we  can  the  better 
follow  the  history  and  practices  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  Mexico,  where  the  managers 
had  full  swing  from  the  advent  of  Cortez,  A.D.  1521 
to  1870. 


MEXICO  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES 


HP 


(HE  book  entitled  "  Mexico  and  the  United 
States;  Their  Mutual  Relations  and  Com- 
A       mon  Interests,"  by  G.  D.  Abbot,  LL.  D., 
G.  P.  Putnam    &  Son,  New  York,  is  a 
most  interesting  work,  and  while  published  some 
years   ago,    1869,   since   which   time   Mexico   has 
shaken  off  the  Roman  Catholic  yoke  and  under- 
gone many  changes,  this  brief  summary  of  a  small 
portion  only  may  enable  the  reader  to  notice  that 
in  Mexico,  as  in  other  countries,  behind  all  its 
professions,  ceremonies,  dogmas,  and  creeds,  the 
policy  and  practice  of  the  church  has  been  to  get 
o-old  from  its  votaries  and  keep  them  in  mental  and 
spiritual  bondage.     It  is  impossible  to  find  language 
with  which  to  fittingly  characterize  the  cruelties 
practised    by    the    Roman    Catholic    Church    in 
Mexico  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  its  des- 
potic power.     It  is  atrocious,  revolting,  and  shock- 
ing in  every  sense.     In  all  the  history  of  crime  and 
its    detection    nothing     more     disreputable,    dis- 
graceful, and  atrocious  has  been  recorded.     It  is 
abhorrent  to  the  instincts  of  every  true  American, 
every    lover    of    personal    freedom    and    political 
liberty;  and  he  may  well  look  with  concern  at  the 
growth  and  power  in  the  United  States  of  this  same 
foreign  organization,  styled  the  papacy,  with  head- 
quarters at  Rome,  a  pope  of  its  own  creation  as  a 

53 


54  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

figurehead  to  issue  its  mandates  and  decrees  to 
the  thousands  of  ignorant  followers  in  our  country, 
who,  as  in  the  past,  send  thousands  of  dollars  to 
Rome  every  year,  and  are  under  the  control  of  an 
army  of  bishops  and  priests,  who  fatten  from  fees 
for  masses  and  indulgences,  born  of  the  soul-de- 
stroying confessional,  and  who  are  under  oath  to 
obey  all  orders  from  Rome  even  to  the  detriment  of 
their  native  or  adopted  country.  And  this  in  the 
name  of  religion.  Mr.  Abbot  says:  "  What  Spain 
did  on  this  continent  can  never  be  too  often  related 
—  it  ought  never  to  be  forgotten.  The  lands  of  the 
Indians  were  taken  from  them  by  apostolic  authority. 
It  was  one  unspeakable  outrage,  one  unutterable 
ruin,  without  discrimination  of  age  or  sex.  The 
simple,  docile  race  of  Mexicans  was  all  but  ex- 
terminated, every  outrage  under  the  garb  of 
religion  was  tolerated.  They  who  died  not  under 
the  lash  in  a  tropical  sun  died  in  the  darkness  of 
the  mine.  Millions,  whole  races  and  nations,  were 
remorselessly  cut  off,  and  there  was  enacted  one  of 
the  darkest,  most  deadly  and  demoniacal  tragedies 
in  the  annals  of  time.  In  the  name  of  religion 
the  deed  was  done.  Missionaries  sent  over  by  the 
king  of  Spain  administered  baptism  and  the  sacra- 
ments, punishing  apostates  with  the  tortures  of  the 
inquisition.  A  single  priest  baptized  thousands 
between  the  rising  and  setting  sun.  Any  act  of 
inhumanity  or  barbarism  was  sanctioned  if  done 
in  the  name  of  religion.  Murder,  perjury,  and 
adultery  were  winked  at  if  they  were  only  de- 
fensores  jidei. 


Mexico  and  the  United  States  55 

The  whole  family  of  the  priesthood,  pope, 
cardinal,  bishop,  and  priest,  under  the  most 
solemn  vows  of  celibacy,  were  quite  exempt  from 
discipline  or  censure,  however  numerous  their  sons 
and  daughters.  The  priests  were  all  "  Fathers," 
and  the  pope  the  Holy  Father.  Pope  Alexander 
VI,  Roderic  Borgia,  of  Valencia,  Spain,  had 
during  his  cardinalship  four  illegitimate  children 
by  his  mistress  Vanozia.  His  public  policy  and 
private  life  were  equally  strangers  to  morality  and 
religion.  No  name  in  history  is  stigmatized  with 
greater  infamy.  His  court  a  school  of  licentious- 
ness and  falsehood,  where  crime  was  reduced  to  a 
system,  and  oaths  and  compacts  afforded  no  ob- 
ligation to  security,  and  yet,  this  monster  of  vice, 
according  to  papal  claims,  was  the  legitimate 
successor  of  the  apostles  and  the  ' :  Vicar  of  God  ' 
upon  earth,  and  addressed  as  "  His  Holiness." 

"There  were  good  men  in  the  pale  of  the  church, 
as  godly  and  noble  souls  as  ever  contended  for 
truth  and  righteousness,  but  the  whole  spirit  and 
life  of  the  age  were  characterized  by  deeds  of  dark- 
ness, shame,  and  death.  The  whole  administra- 
tion of  justice  was  utterly  corrupt  and  oppressive, 
a  labyrinth  of  bribery,  intrigue,  and  outrage.  The 
natives  had  no  voice  in  legislation  or  any  function 
of  government.  Freedom  was  crushed  with  re- 
lentless severity.  The  sacraments  of  religion  and 
the  fears  and  hopes  of  immortality  were  made  to 
yield  a  royal  income  to  the  king  of  Spain." 

Specimens  of  "Revenue  Bulls":  1.  "Bulls 
de    Cruzada."    The   possessor   of   this    bull   was 


56  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

absolved  from  all  crimes  except  heresy.  Exempt 
from  rigorous  fasts  of  the  church.  Two  bulls  at 
same  price  had  double  the  virtue  of  one. 

2.  "  Bulls  de  defunctos,"  the  bull  for  the  dead, 
was  a  passport  for  the  soul  from  purgatory. 

3.  "  Bulls  for  eating  milk  and  eggs  during 
lent."  The  clergy  became  the  royal  collecting 
agents  of  spiritual  revenue,  and  the  accumulation 
of  their  wealth  was  almost  incredible,  amounting  to 
an  aggregate  of  not  less  than  one  hundred  million 
dollars.  The  religious  establishments  of  the  monks 
and  nuns  in  the  City  of  Mexico  were  said  to  be  the 
owners  of  three  fourths  of  the  private  houses  in  the 
capital,  and  proportionably  of  property  in  the 
different  states  of  the  republic. 

December  13,  1545.  Two  hundred  and  forty- 
seven  bishops  assembled  in  the  city  of  Trent;  of 
these  187  were  Italians.  The  council  was  con- 
voked by  a  bull  of  Pope  Paul  III,  to  legislate  for 
the  whole  human  race  to  the  end  of  time.  Their 
claim  was  to  make  a  faith,  and  "  law  "  by  a  vote 
of  the  majority,  viz.  124.  Sixty  foreign  bishops 
and  180  Italians,  in  the  year  1545,  promulgated 
articles  of  faith  and  a  code  of  laws  as  if  they  were 
the  edicts  of  the  Almighty,  of  everlasting  obliga- 
tion, binding  the  countless  thousands  of  millions 
of  all  successive  generations. 

January  6,  1564,  the  pope's  bull  confirmed  the 
decrees  of  the  council,  and  the  laws  and  duties  of 
our  race  were  settled.  Such  a  tissue  of  absurdities 
never  issued  before  from  a  human  brain,  and  only 
an   age   of  ignorance,   superstition,   and   bigotry, 


Mexico  and  the  United  States  51 

and  a  generation  despoiled  of  all  independence  and 
manhood  by  years  of  despotism  and  oppression, 
would  have  tolerated  it.  The  wonder  is  that 
indignant  humanity  did  not  rise  in  the  majesty  of 
truth  and  sweep  to  destruction  the  whole  fabric 
and  policy,  with  all  its  agents  and  abettors.  The 
history  of  human  oppression  affords  no  encourage- 
ment that  popes,  emperors,  bishops,  or  kings  will 
voluntarihj  yield  one  iota  of  their  assumptions  and 
claims.  After  running  its  course  one  thousand 
years  in  Europe,  this  system  of  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical despotism  crossed  the  ocean  to  the  new 
world,  and  now  seeks  to  arrest  the  progress  of 
liberty,  civilization,  and  Christianity.  Sehor  Loredo 
says  it  costs  $20,000,000  annually  to  maintain 
3,223  ecclesiastics,  the  greatest  portion  of  which  is 
absorbed  by  the  bishops.  The  church  wields  the 
power  of  wealth  almost  fabulous  in  amount,  a 
large  portion  being  in  money.  In  the  Cathedral  of 
Mexico  is  a  figure  of  the  Virgin  Mary  dressed  in  the 
richest  embroidered  satin.  She  displays  strings 
of  the  largest  pearls  hanging  from 'her  neck  to  below 
her  knees.  Around  her  brow  is'clasped  a  crown 
of  gold,  inlaid  with  emeralds  of  enormous  size. 
Her  waist  is  bound  with  a  zone  of  diamonds,  from 
the  center  of  which  blaze  numbers  of  enormous 
brilliants.  The  candelabras  are  of  silver  and  gold, 
and  from  the  platform  before  the  altar'the;"  Host," 
amid  a  blaze  of  priceless  and  innumerable  jewels, 
is  exhibited  to  the  kneeling  multitude.  The  whole 
is  a  mine  of  splendor.  The  Cathedral  of  Mexico 
was  begun  in  1573  and  finished  in  1667;  cost  about 


58  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

$2,000,000.  The  altar,  covered  with  a  profusion 
of  crosses  and  ornaments  of  pure  gold,  is  sur- 
mounted by  a  small  temple  in  which  rests  the  figure 
of  the  "  Virgin  in  Remedios,"  who  enjoys  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  three  'petticoats, —  one  embroidered 
with  pearls,  another  with  emeralds,  and  a  third 
with  diamonds,  the  value  of  which  is  credibly 
stated  at  not  less  than  $3,000,000.  There  are 
between  sixty  and  eighty  other  churches  in  Mexico. 
The  statues  of  saints  which  decorate  the  churches 
are  arrayed  in  the  most  grotesque  costumes. 
Crucifixes,  painted  in  glaring  red,  to  represent  the 
hideous  spectacle  of  a  man  flayed  alive,  and  wearing 
starched  shirts  fringed  with  laces.  The  Spaniards 
perpetuate  their  traditions  by  robing  Christ  in 
crinoline  and  other  most  ridiculous  attire. 

The  pomp  and  pageantry  of  the  ritual  as  it  now 
exists  is  revolting  in  its  disgusting  mummeries  and 
impostures.  Fifty  years  ago  in  one  of  the  churches 
in  Mexico  was  an  image  of  the  most  ghastly  and 
horrid  appearance  intended  to  represent  the  Saviour. 
Its  eyes  were  worked  by  wires,  and  the  large, 
blood-shot  balls  were  made  to  roll  in  the  most 
frightful  manner  whenever  it  was  thought  necessary 
to  inspire  terror.  "  On  a  day  of  religious  festival 
I  have  seen,"  says  a  traveler,  "  stuck  upon  the  door 
of  the  church  of  San  Francisco  the  following-  ad- 
vertisement:  '  His  Holiness,  the  pope  (and  certain 
bishops  which  were  named),  have  granted  thirty- 
two  thousand,  three  hundred  years,  ten  days,  and 
six  hours  of  indulgence  for  the  mass.'  "  The 
object  of  the  particularity  is,  to  secure  the  more 


Mexico  and  the  United  States  59 

effectual    belief    in    the    imposture.     Mr.    Abbot 
closes  this  chapter  by  saying : 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  priests  in  Mexico 
(1869)  are  the  lowest  order  of  pretended  intellectual  beings 
I  ever  saw,  and  the  stories  of  their  personal  conduct  will  not 
bear  repeating.  The  Mexican  church  always  has  been,  and 
so  long  as  it  exists  always  will  be,  the  great  element  of  evil  in 
Mexico,  and  there  will  be  no  peace,  prosperity,  or  progress  in 
the  country  until  this  church  is  overthrown  and  totally  de- 
stroyed, root  and  branch. 

The  idolatrous  character  of  Mexican  Catholicism  is  well 
known  to  all  travelers.  The  worship  of  saints  and  madonnas 
so  absorbs  the  devotion  of  the  people  that  little  time  is  left 
to  think  about  God.  Religious  ceremonies  are  performed 
with  the  most  lamentable  indifference  and  want  of  decorum. 
It  would  require  volumes  to  relate  the  Indian  superstitions 
of  an  idolatrous  character  which  exist  to  this  day.  One  of 
the  greatest  evils  is  the  exorbitant  fee  for  the  marriage  cere- 
mony. The  priests  compel  the  poor  to  live  without  marriage, 
by  demanding  for  nuptial  benediction  a  sum  that  a  mechanic 
can  scarcely  accumulate  in  fifty  years.  The  consequences 
are  as  lamentable  to  public  morality  as  to  religion.  The 
Roman  Church,  so  called,  is  a  system  of  unutterable  igno- 
rance, superstition,  and  imposture,  of  intolerable  despotism, 
of  organized  and  systematic  outrage  of  the  rights  of  man, 
which  has  overshadowed  the  nations  for  centuries.  The 
conflicts,  revolutions,  and  civil  wars  for  centuries  have  all  had 
resistance  to  ecclesiastical  tyranny  at  the  bottom.  The 
church  party  rest  their  pretensions  and  claims  on  the  author- 
ity of  church  traditions,  and  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
The  church  says  "  civil  government  "  is  only  the  subordinate 
department  of  government,  the  people  are  subject  to  a  higher 
sovereign  than  the  state.  When  the  real  sovereign  com- 
mands, it  is  our  duty  to  resist  the  civil  ruler  and  to  overthrow, 


60  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

if  need  be,  the  civil  government.  It  belongs  to  the  church  to 
determine  when  resistance  is  proper  and  to  prescribe  its  form 
and  extent. 

The  pope,  therefore,  is  the  universal  sovereign,  invested 
with  all  power  over  the  whole  earth.  All  political,  ecclesias- 
tical, legislative,  judicial,  and  executive  powers  are  his  prero- 
gatives. Privileges,  dispensations,  prohibitions,  interdicts 
are  his.  He  grants  or  forbids  freedom  of  opinion,  conscience, 
speech,  and  the  press.  He  forgives  or  punishes;  bishops  and 
priests  are  of  his  creation.  He  binds  and  dissolves  the  mar- 
riage tie.  The  keys  of  heaven  and  hell  are  in  his  hands,  and 
he  opens  and  closes  the  gates  at  his  will.  Such  is  the  reli- 
gious system,  the  very  foundations  of  which  are  laid  in  des- 
potism of  the  most  revolting  forms,  the  fruits  of  which  have 
been  ignorance,  superstition,  degradation,  and  vice.  In 
Mexico  under  Spanish  rule  not  only  three  fifths  of  the  cities 
were  occupied  with  convents  and  churches,  but  there  were 
convents  which  occupied  a  large  part  of  the  city,  but  the 
ecclesiastics,  after  making  the  vow  of  poverty,  live  a  lie 
in  the  midst  of  abundance  and  comfort.  In  the  late  revolu- 
tions the  Mexicans  took  over  two  hundred  million  dollars  in 
gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones,  which  the  Spaniards  had 
accumulated  in  their  churches.  The  clergy  have  very  little 
education.  Divinity  is  only  a  pretext  and  motive  of  action, 
with  charity  and  humility  as  a  screen  to  hide  their  lust  for 
greed  and  power,  and  who  make  an  infamous  traffic  of  reli- 
gion. Nevertheless,  there  are  some  good  priests  whose 
conduct  is  irreproachable.  The  absurd,  impotent,  and  im- 
pertinent attempt  of  the  pope  to  impose  on  the  people  of  our 
country  the  pretensions  of  a  thousand  years  ago,  and  who 
promulgates  as  legislation  binding  on  fifteen  hundred  millions 
of  the  human  race  the  repudiated  dogmas  of  a  packed  council 
of  247  men  three  centuries  ago.  But  such  is  the  case.  Our 
people  should  know  the  past  and  present  history  of  this  organ- 
ization  in  its   efforts   for  money  and   power.  The  two 


Mexico  and  the  United  States  61 

mendicant  orders,  Dominican  and  Franciscan,  instituted  in 
A.D.  1212,  and  now  in  existence  in  our  country,  were  engaged 
in  the  work  of  extirpating  the  enemies  of  the  papal  supremacy. 
Their  influence  was  absolute  in  church  and  state,  occupied 
the  most  prominent  positions,  political  and  diplomatic,  and 
the  most  abject  champions  of  the  pretensions  of  the  Roman 
pontiff.  Kings,  bishops,  and  the  whole  world  trembled  be- 
fore them,  a  towering  system  of  corrupted  Christianity,  of 
intolerable  despotism,  of  organized  and  systematic  outrage 
of  the  rights  of  man.  It  is  in  vain  to  close  our  eyes  against  the 
secret  designs  and  plottings  of  this  so-called  church.  They 
can  neither  be  cloaked  nor  concealed,  and  must  be  more  com- 
pletely known  that  we  may  be  on  our  guard. 

At  this  writing,  1909,  in  Mexico,  there  is  com- 
plete separation  of  church  and  state,  free  exercise 
of  religious  services.  The  state  gives  no  official 
recognition  of  any  religious  festivals  save  the 
Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest,  and  religious  services 
to  be  held  only  within  the  place  of  worship. 

Under  provisions  of  the  constitution  other  laws 
of  reform  were  also  issued  by  the  secretary  of  state, 
viz.,  the  use  of  church  bells  is  restricted  to  calling  the 
people  to  religious  work.  Religious  processions 
are  forbidden  in  the  streets.  Clerical  vestments 
are  forbidden  in  the  streets.  Pulpit  discourses 
advising  disobedience  to  the  law  or  injury  to  any 
one  are  strictly  forbidden.  The  state  does  not 
recognize  monastic  orders  nor  permit  their  es- 
tablishment. The  association  of  sisters  of  charity 
is  suppressed  in  the  republic.  Jesuits  are  expelled, 
and  may  not  return.  Matrimony  is  a  civil  contract 
and  to  be  duly  registered.  The  religious  service 
may  be  added.    No  one  can  sign  away  their  liberty 


62  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

by  contract  or  religious  vow.  Cemeteries  are  under 
civil  inspection  and  open  for  the  burial  of  all  classes 
and  creeds.  Education  in  the  public  schools  is 
free  and  compulsory.  As  Mexico  after  suffering 
for  three  centuries  under  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  yoke  found  it  necessary  for  self  protection 
to  issue  the  above  laws  of  reform,  it  would  seem 
advisable  the  governors  of  our  states  should  send 
representatives  to  Mexico  to  ascertain  what  the 
church  authorities  did  that  made  the  enactment  of 
such  laws  an  imperative  necessity;  and  if  the  in- 
formation prove  of  value,  to  further  enquire  why 
the  opposite  of  such  laws  are  virtually  in  force  in  our 
country,  and  whether  the  same  are  beneficial  and 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  republic,  that  our  people 
be  more  fully  informed  on  these  matters  which  it  is 
likely  they  will  soon  be  called  upon  to  face,  whether 
they  will  or  no.  Also  whether  idols  of  gold,  silver, 
and  copper  should  be  melted  down;  that  fasts, 
abstinence  from  meat,  and  auricular  confession 
should  be  abolished;  and  that  the  government 
should  decree,  declaring  all  church  laws,  bulls, 
and  rescripts  from  the  court  of  Rome,  or  any  other 
power  claiming  sovereignty,  void  in  the  United 
States,  unless  sanctioned  and  formally  adopted  by 
the  government.  And  further,  what,  if  anything, 
religion  has  to  do  with  the  above,  and  how  far  any 
religious  or  other  association  shall  be  allowed  to 
meddle  or  interfere  with  the  domestic  laws  of  the 
state,  or  set  itself  up  as  an  independent  sovereign 
within  its  limits,  across  which  limits  the  state  has 
no  jurisdiction  and  may  not  go. 


MEMOIRS  OF  TALLEYRAND 

CHARLES  MAURICE  TALLEYRAND 
DE  PERIGORD,  the  accredited  author 
of  the  annexed  letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII, 
was  born  at  Paris,  March  7,  1754.  De- 
scended from  one  of  the  most  ancient  families  of 
France,  and  whose  political  career  is  unequaled  in 
the  annals  of  history.  In  his  twenty-sixth  year  he 
was  nominated  agent  general  of  the  clergy,  and  in 
spite  of  royal  opposition  was  Bishop  of  Autun 
at  the  age  of  thirty-four.  Among  the  other  cere- 
monies of  the  day  of  federation  he  administered  to 
the  representatives  of  the  people  a  new  oath  of 
fidelity  to  the  nation,  the  king,  and  the  law.  He 
also  consecrated  the  constitutional  bishops  in  the 
Church  of  Notre  Dame,  a  step  which  brought  forth 
a  monition  from  the  pope,  complaining  loudly 
against  him  as  "an  impious  wretch  who  had  im- 
posed his  sacrilegious  hands  on  intruding  clergy- 
men," and  declaring  him  excommunicated,  unless 
he  recanted  his  error  within  forty  days.  Upon 
this  he  resigned  his  bishopric  and  directed  his 
whole  attention  to  secular  affairs. 


63 


A  BRIEF  SUMMARY  OF  M.  DE  TALLEY- 
RAND'S LETTER  TO  POPE  PIUS  VII 

MOST  HOLY  FATHER:—  I  have  learnt 
that  you  have  communicated  my  social 
manifesto  to  the  consistory  of  cardinals, 
and  that  in  consequence  of  the  report  of 
that  monstrous  Areopagus,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  opinion  of  Cardinal  Bernis,  you  have  placed 
that  work  under  ecclesiastical  censure,  besides 
excommunicating  its  author.  It  is  perhaps  neces- 
sary I  should  muster  up  all  my  courage  not  to  be 
overcome  by  such  dreadful  news.  .  .  .  You  cannot 
deny,  Most  Holy  Father,  that  the  church  of  Christ, 
whenever  the  priesthood  could  be  benefited  by  it, 
has  always  set  up  the  standard  of  rebellion,  and 
having  once  roused  up  the  passions  of  the  ignorant 
they  continued  to  keep  alive  the  most  scandalous 
dissensions  among  the  people.  If  this  church 
had  laid  aside  the  boasted  morality  it  has  placed 
in  the  mouth  of  the  self-styled  sacred  priest,  it 
would  have  saved  to  Europe  oceans  of  blood,  and 
if,  on  the  contrary,  the  sublime  and  pure  morality  of 
Plato  had  been  adopted  in  its  stead,  certainly 
mankind  would  not  have  looked  for  a  legislator 
in  a  corner  of  Asia,  and  amidst  an  abject  nation 
formerly  detested  by  the  whole  world.  To  be 
candid,  Most  Holy  Father,  and  frankly  confess  that 
whatever  is  good  and  sublime  in  the  religion  of 

64 


M .  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII   65 

your  God  was  plundered  from  Plato's  works,  and 
the  morality  of  the  just  man  traced  by  the  majestic 
pencil  of  this  divine  philosopher  ought  never  to 
have  been  called  the  Christian,  but  the  Platonic 
morality,  and  therefore  that  your  title  ought  to 
be  ';  The  Servant  of  God  and  the  vicar  of  Plato." 
But  what  above  all  enraged  the  Romans  and  the 
philosophers  of  that  time  was  the  stupidity  and 
impudence  of  catechumens  who  sought  out  in 
Judea  this  carpenter's  son,  and  in  their  ravings 
made  him  Lord  of  heaven,  of  earth,  and  the  entire 
universe.  So  barefaced  was  the  knavery  of  these 
Christian  priests  that  they  hesitated  not  to  make 
their  pretended  Saviour  talk  in  the  most  pretentious 
manner,  that  thereby  they  might  have  at  least  an 
apology  for  the  gratification  of  their  own  lust  of 
power.  What  audacity,  what  impudence!  Were 
I  sure,  Most  Holy  Father,  that  there  is  a  supreme 
being  to  resent  such  abominations,  I  would  call  on 
his  offended  majesty  to  prepare  his  thunderbolts 
and  to  annihilate  at  one  tremendous  blow  the  whole 
brood  of  priests.  It  is  a  truth  now  well  established 
by  experience,  that  the  only  aim  of  the  priests  is  to 
fatten  on  the  superstition  of  the  ignorant;  and  this 
is  the  reason  why  enlightened  men  have  denounced 
the  priesthood  as  a  class  always  ready  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  simplicity  of  their  unlearned 
devotees,  so  that  they  may  increase  and  preserve 
their  tyrannical  sway  over  the  children  of  men. 
It  was  the  priesthood  that  put  its  veto  on  the  Pla- 
tonic morality,  for  the  wily  priests  knew  that  the 
works  of  Plato  would  tend,  not  only  to  enlighten 


66  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

men,  but  also  to  expose  and  confound  imposters. 
Yet,  however  much  they  hated  Plato's  ethics,  they 
did  not  reject  them  entirely,  but  were  content, 
as  it  would  still  answer  their  perverse  purposes,  to 
sully  them  with  the  addition  of  ridiculous  or 
monstrous  Jewish  institutions,  to  which  were 
superadded  a  host  of  miracles. 

Ay,  sound  ones,  too, 

Seen,  heard,  attested,  everything,  but  true! 

"You  yourself  will  not  deny  that  the  pretense 
to  work  miracles,  which  is  an  infraction  of  nature's 
laws,  cannot  be  admitted  by  a  discriminating  mind. 
Miracles    resolve    themselves    into    the    following 
questions:    Whether  it  is  more  probable  that  the 
laws  of  nature,  hitherto  so  immutably  harmonious, 
should  have  undergone  violation,  or  that  a  man 
should  have  told  a  lie.     We  have  many  instances  of 
men  telling  lies,  none  of  an  infraction  of  nature's 
laws,  those  laws  of  whose  government  alone  we 
have   any   knowledge   or   experience.     Therefore, 
when  delirious  priests   assume  the  possibility   of 
miracles  and  maintain  boldly  and  publicly  their 
existence,  they  little  think  that  they  are  actually 
insulting  their  chosen  God,  whom  they  thus  treat 
as  a  magician  or  juggler.     Should  we  then  grant 
to  your  God  the  power  of  working  miracles,  it 
would  be  granting  to  Him  a  power  contrary  to  His 
supposed  essence,  and  to  those  laws  of  nature  which 
He  must  have  established.     It  would  be  making 
of  Him  a  capricious  and  foolish  being,  unworthy 
of  human  reverence.     If  there  were  a  God,  what 
blasphemies,  what  profanations  would  not  those 


M .  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII    C7 

priests  be  guilty  of,  who,  in  order  to  enjoy  an  idle 
life,  impose  on  simple  and  ignorant  persons  their 
absurd  and  ridiculous  holy  phantasmagoria  (illu- 
sive images). 

"In  speaking  of  religion  I  pointed  out  the  neces- 
sity of  a  new  translation  of  the  gospels  from  the 
Syriac  and  Greek,  as  your  predecessors  have  not 
only  altered  them,  but  villainously  added  or  sup- 
pressed whole  passages  not  in  the  original.  I  also 
affirmed  that  there  can  be  but  one  religion.  I 
spoke  of  God,  of  the  great  cause  of  all  sensitive 
existences,  of  that  God  whom  you  knew  not.  For 
the  God  of  the  universe  is  not  the  God  of  popes 
and  priests.  The  one  they  have  invented  is  not 
made  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  the  God  adored 
by  virtuous  and  rational  beings.  I  spoke  of 
monuments  in  Asia  which  prove  an  antiquity  of 
at  least  fifty  thousand  years.  India,  with  a  more 
dense  population,  claims  a  greater  antiquity. 
China  and  Japan  trace  to  fifty-four  thousand  years, 
which  they  prove  by  an  unbroken  series  of  records, 
so  that  one  might  suppose  the  venerable  monu- 
ments proving  this  antiquity  had  been  saved  from 
the  general  wreck  to  point  out  in  their  mournful 
silence  the  prostration  of  reason  and  the  decline  of 
arts  caused  by  the  establishment  of  Christianity. 
In  your  '  sacred  calendar  '  you  assume  the  fixed 
stars,  the  sun,  moon,  and  earth  were  created 
simultaneously,  about  six  thousand  years  ago. 
But  if  only  six  thousand  years,  where  did  God 
reside,  and  what  was  He  doing  throughout  eternity  ? 
Before  the  Diety  said,  '  Let  there   be   light,'  He 


68  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

must  have  moved  in  darkness.     How  supremely 
ridiculous  the  idea  of  such  a  creation  is,  and  without 
taking  into   consideration  its  gross  ignorance   of 
nature,    how    derogatory    to    the    character    of    a 
supreme  being.     But  supposing  God  had  created 
the  heavens  for  the  earth  and  the  earth  for  man, 
as  you  take  it  for  granted,  how   could   He   make 
man  in  His  own  image  and  likeness  ?    Do  you  not 
say  that  God,  being  a  spirit,  has  no  body  ?  that  He 
is  an  incomprehensible  nonentity,  of  which  we  can 
form  no  idea.     You  pretend  to  believe  the  fixed 
stars  so  many  spangles,  stuck  in  the  firmament  as 
a  mere  decoration,  the  sun  and  moon  two  fiery 
orbs,  to  rule  the  day  and  night.     But  this  opinion, 
which  is  as  false  as  it  is  absurd,  you  received  from 
Moses,  an  Egyptian  priest  of  Hebrew  origin,  and 
as  great  an  impostor  as  he  was  a  bad  astronomer. 
This  Moses  sought  an  asylum  in  Arabia  Deserta, 
where  he  had  command  of  six  hundred  thousand 
brigands,  which  procured  him  an  opportunity  of 
conversing  with  your   God,   the   Great   Jehovah. 
It  was  there  that  your  incorporeal  God  appeared 
and  signified  His  approbation  of  the  robberies  com- 
mitted in  Egypt  by  the  Israelites,  and  it  was  there 
that  their  honorable  chief  was  rewarded  for  having 
converted  to  his  use  property  not  his  own.     It  was 
not  long  before  this  swindling  became  known  to 
twenty-three  thousand  of  his  comrades,  who  looked 
upon  him  as  an  impostor  or  a  visionary.     How- 
ever, he  excited  the  rabble  to  fall  upon  these  twenty- 
three  thousand  skeptics,  who  were  sacrificed  to  his 
cruel  fanaticism.     The  ridiculous  doctrines  of  this 


M .  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII    69 

Hebrew  chief  will  do  for  his  descendants,  but  they 
are  not  adapted  to  the  civilized  nations  of  Europe 
which  have  long  ago  detected  the  fraud.     It  be- 
comes you  to  prevent  the  scandal  which  would 
naturally   attach  to  a  creed  founded  upon  such 
monstrosities  as  the  fable  of  the  human  race  be- 
ginning in  one  man,  and  at  a  time  when  Asia, 
Africa,    Europe,    and    even    America    had    more 
inhabitants  than  they  now  have.     At  the  time  when 
Moses  fixed  upon  for  the  creation  of  all  things,  the 
Hindoos  had  lived  five  thousand  years  in  a  state  of 
high  civilization,  with  a  population  of  two  hundred 
millions.     It  is  then  evident  that  among  the  many 
blunders  made  by  Moses  in  Genesis,  not  the  least 
was  that  of  fixing  the  time  of  his  creation  of  the 
world  at  an  epoch  when  the  earth  not  only  did 
exist,  but  had  an  immense  population  and  actually 
reckoned  fifty  thousand  years  of  civilization,  be- 
sides this  pretending  to  look  upon  the  Hebrews  as  the 
most  ancient  people  on  earth,  forgetting,  or  rather 
feigning  to  forget,  that  they  were  a  mere  gang  of 
slaves,  who  had  originally  escaped  from  Idumea 
during-  the  intestine  dissensions  which  desolated 
that   country.     After   having    passed   into   Egypt 
they  still  preserved  their  primitive  condition,  and 
it  was  only  after  the  lapse  of  many  years  and  after 
having  robbed  their  masters,  they  crossed  the  Red 
Sea  in  Ethiopian  vessels,  and  having  entered  into 
Arabia  Deserta,  they  gained  the  woods  of  Henon, 
where   they   maintained   themselves   during   forty 
years,  living  by  the  robberies  and  plunders  they 
committed  at  night  on  the  people  in  the  neighbor- 


70  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

hood.  The  produce  collected  form  these  rob- 
beries Moses  called  '  manna  from  heaven.'  It 
was  here  that  Moses,  having  ascended  Mount  Sinai, 
gave  them  the  law  which  became  the  basis  of  the 
Jewish  religion,  and  which  in  time  became  the 
cornerstone  of  other  religions.  He  knew  how 
difficult  it  was  to  legislate  for  a  herd  of  barbarians, 
and  therefore  made  them  believe  that  the  law  he 
gave  them  was  the  word  of  God.  Having  at  last 
descended  from  the  mountain  he  tried  to  extort 
worship  from  all  the  people  to  the  tables  he  had 
there  forged,  but  having  met  with  opposition  from 
the  most  sensible  part  of  the  people,  who  pro- 
nounced him  an  impostor,  the  '  meek '  Moses 
called  to  his  assistance  the  ignorant  fanaticism  of 
the  rest,  and  twenty-four  thousand  Jews  were  the 
first  victims  of  this  holy  and  divine  religion.  This 
wholesale  butchery  is  the  most  atrocious  ever 
recorded,  and  having  been  attested  by  thousands 
of  the  survivors,  it  is  evidence  enough  that  your 
great  lawgiver  was  a  bloody  villain.  The  history 
of  Noah's  Ark  and  its  cargo  of  animals  is  a  fable, 
taught  by  Moses,  by  the  priests  of  Osiris,  who  had 
many  years  before  sold  it  to  the  Egyptians.  This 
fable  invented  by  the  priests  of  that  god  was 
afterwards  consecrated  by  them  in  their  theology, 
but  a  chronology  of  events  being  the  history  of  a 
people,  and  theology  being  a  mere  cheat  to  conceal 
the  truth,  I  need  not  point  out  the  difference  between 
the  historian  of  a  nation  and  the  mere  theologian 
of  a  sect.  These  are  some  of  the  gross  blunders 
committed  by  Moses  when  he  tried  to  descant  on 


M.  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII    71 

matters  and  things  about  which  he  knew  nothing. 
Had  he  listened  to  the  voice  of  truth  he  might  have 
transmitted  to  us  a  history  which  would  have  done 
honor  to  his  name  and  labors,  but  instead  of  this 
he  told  us  a  story  about  Methuselah  (and  it  is  more 
than  doubtful  if  such  a  man  ever  existed),  having 
lived  nine  hundred  years,  not  wishing  or  not  taking 
the  trouble  to  attend  to  the  divers  modes  of  com- 
puting years  among  the  Chaldeans.  The  ancients 
used  the  lunar  year,  and  often  reckoned  their  year 
by  one,  two,  six,  or  more  periodical  revolutions 
of  the  moon.  But  the  revolutions  of  the  moon 
around  the  earth  are  made  in  about  twenty-seven 
and  a  half  days,  which  is  not  even  so  much  as  one 
of  our  months.  So  the  life  of  Methuselah  could 
not  have  been  so  long  as  Moses  says.  All  these 
things  go  to  show  that  Moses  was  grossly  ignorant 
of  the  antiquity  of  the  world,  and  that  the  Hebrews, 
whom  he  pronounced  the  most  ancient,  were,  with 
respect  to  China  and  India,  the  newest  and  most 
modern.  This  barbarous  and  ungovernable  peo- 
ple, whose  vicious  propensities  run  through  the 
veins  of  their  descendants,  were  shut  up  in  one  of 
the  most  barren  corners  of  Asia,  where  they  lived 
in  obscurity  under  the  first  power  that  conde- 
scended to  enslave  them,  and  only  because  known 
in  Europe  by  the  religious  fables  upon  which  the 
founders  of  Christianity  built  up  the  edifice  of  their 
own  system.  Had  the  doctrines  of  Plato  found 
an  echo  in  Jesus,  and  had  they  been  preached  with 
perseverance  to  the  slaves,  it  would  have  realized 
in  this  world  all  the  fictitious  happiness  promised 


72  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

in  the  imaginary  heaven  above,  but  his  apostles 
made  Christianity  from  the  very  beginning  look, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  well  informed,  as  a  schism  de- 
rived from  Judaism,  which  led  to  others  no  less 
natural.  Some  looked  upon  Christ  as  the  Son  of 
God,  and  as  God  Himself,  but  begotten  of  a 
virgin  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Others, 
however,  looked  on  him  only  as  a  man  predestined 
by  God  to  make  His  will  known.  These,  although 
they  denied  his  divinity,  looked  upon  him  as  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  scandal  caused  by  so 
many  contrary  opinions  on  a  subject  which  was  of 
great  importance  should  have  remained  undebated, 
drew  to  it  the  attention  of  the  Roman  senate,  who 
saw  only  a  band  of  adventurers  in  the  Christian 
sect.  Obliged  to  hide  themselves  to  escape  the 
penalties  of  the  law,  they  sought  an  asylum  among 
the  intricate  catacombs  and  quarries  situated  in 
the  suburbs  of  Rome,  where  a  thousand  windings 
enabled  them  to  frustrate  every  effort  to  discover 
them. 

"But  it  is  by  pursuing  a  system  of  imposition  and 
wickedness  that  your  predecessors  and  yourself 
have  been  able  still  to  retain  spiritual  and  temporal 
power  with  a  portion  of  mankind.  However,  it  is 
a  great  pity,  so  far  as  your  nefarious  scheme  is 
concerned,  that  the  apostles  undertook  to  dispute 
about  their  Christ,  for  this,  as  we  have  seen,  led 
to  inquiries  about  his  origin,  which  ended  in  show- 
ing that  his  disputed  parentage  was  his  principal 
claim  to  a  distinction  from  the  generality  of 
mankind. 


M.  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII    73 

"  No,  it  is  not  man's  fault,  but  the  malice  and 
imposture  of  priests  and  kings,  which  have  every- 
where  destroyed   truth.     They   alone  have  given 
currency  to  the  most  shameless  falsehoods,   and 
used  every  mean  subterfuge  to  make  the  world 
believe   that   they   were   indispensable  to   its   wel- 
fare.   .    .    .   Alas!    Most    Holy    Father,    such    is 
the  secret  religion  of  priests,  whose  immoral  ten- 
dency needs  no  comments.     It  is  enough  to  state 
the  fact  to  cause  the  blood  to  fly  back  to  the  heart 
of  the  most  dissolute  man,  unless  he  be  either  a 
king    or    priest.    .    .    .    Cease    to    persecute    your 
brethren  of  earth.     But  first,  you  must  renounce 
that  thirst  for  riches  which  devours  you,  and  the 
ambition  you  have  of  governing  the  world,  and  rid 
yourself  of  that  priestly  leprosy  which  has  so  long 
hindered  you  from  following  the  delightful  paths 
of  virtue.     That  the  territory  you  now  possess,  and 
that    Rome  itself,  over  which   you   now  rule,  are 
pontifical  appendages    is    owing    to    the    criminal 
intrigues    of    Charlemagne.     That    blood-thirsty 
tiger  was  canonized  by  a  pope  and  declared  Em- 
peror of  the  West  merely  because  he  destroyed  the 
liberties  of  Italy  and  gave  the  tenth  of  his  plunder 
to  the  successors  of  Peter  the  fisherman.     Bear  in 
mind,  then,  that  you  are  arrayed  with  the  spoils 
of  crime  and  violence,  and  that  you  cannot  retain 
those  states  without  becoming  an  accomplice  in  the 
guilt  and  crimes  of  your  predecessors.     Look  at 
the  scandalous  actions  of  almost  all   the  popes, 
from  Peter  the  Jew  until  your  own  papacy.     The 
first  of  this  infamous  catalogue  were  a  set  of  quacks 


74  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

and  impostors  who,  perhaps  ignorantly,  immersed 
Plato's  morality  in  Jewish  filth.     Being  as  servile 
as  they  were  ignorant  they  preached  poverty  and 
selfish    debasement.     In    order    to    obtain    from 
servants  the  crumbs  and  bones  from  their  master's 
tables,  they  claimed  the  power  of  working  miracles, 
and  to  this  stratagem  they  were  indebted  for  many 
acts  of  charity.     As  soon  as  their  proselytes  had 
increased  in  number,  and  by  a  system  of  gentleness 
had  gained  admittance  in  some  opulent  houses,  they 
immediately   began   to   despise  their  benefactors, 
and  as  a  recompense  for  having  assuaged  their 
hunger,  they  enticed  their  daughters  into  convents 
and  made  nuns  and  devotees  of  them  all.    As  soon 
as  it  was  ascertained  that  Christianity  was  favorable 
to  despotism,  and  the  enthralment  of  the  people, 
kings  and  emperors  embraced  it  most  readily,  and 
this  was  the  cause,  and  the  only  cause,  of  your 
present    pontifical    power, —  a    power   which   you 
owe  to  the  fanatical  cut-throat  Charlemagne,  who 
first    endowed    your    predecessors    with  temporal 
dominion  and  invested  them  with  the  government 
of  Rome.     Should  we  now  look  over  the  list  of  all 
the  popes  from  Peter  the  fisherman  to  our  own 
times,  we  would  discover  that  the  first  half  of  them 
were  beggars  and  impostors,  who  were  only  anxious 
to  lead  a  life  of  idleness  and  pleasure  under  the 
mask  of  sanctity  and  assumed  abnegation,  whilst 
the   other  half  were   notorious  intriguers,   whose 
lives  were  spent  in  the  perpetration  of  the  most 
heinous  crimes,  and  who  were  followed  to  their 
graves  by  the  curses  and  imprecations  of  the  whole 


M .  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII    75 

population.     Truth  bids  me  draw  a  line  between 
these  monsters  and  the  wise  and  immortal  Gan- 
ganelli.     This  amiable  and  worthy  pontiff  may  be 
said  to  have  been  the  first  and  the  only  one  who  ever 
permitted  philosophy  to  enter  into  the  Vatican. 
Ganganelli  would  often  express  to  his  most  intimate 
friends  the  sorrow  he  felt  in  countenancing  the 
imposition  of  these  ignorant  men  who  first  pro- 
mulgated the  Christian  religion  and  deplored  the 
horrible   evils    caused    by    the     selfish    policy   of 
the  popes.     He  grieved  at  the  criminal  traffic  of  the 
priesthood,  at  their  disregard   of  truth  and  their 
efforts  to  impede  the  progress  of  knowledge,  that 
they  might  thus  keep  mankind  in  the  bondage  of 
slavery.     To    foreign   philosophy    he   would    say, 
"  No  human  being  in  Europe  has  either  physically 
or  morally  suffered  as  I  have.     Confined  by  cruel 
and  unnatural  parents  within  the  walls  of  a  convent 
I  was  threatened  with  all  the  horrors  of  a  dungeon 
if  I  did  not  clothe  myself  with  the  garments  of  re- 
ligion and  hypocrisy.     My  amenity,  docility,  frank- 
ness, and  my  large  fortune  gave  to  the  court  of  Rome 
the  first  intimation  of  my  existence,  but,  above  all, 
my  disinterestedness  procured  me  the  good  opinion 
of  Cardinal  Ostali,  who  during  the  vacancy  in  the 
pontifical  chair  obtained  in  the  conclave  a  majority 
of  votes  in  my  favor,  and  I  was  invested  with  the 
purple  robes  and  seated  upon  the  throne  as  head 
of  the  church.     The  world  knows  how  reluctantly  I 
accepted  the  situation.     I  then  resolved  to  over- 
throw Christianity,    that   is    to-day   idolatry,    but 
watched    by    the    sleepless    eyes    of    a    thousand 


76  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Arguses  and  always  surrounded  by  the  apostles  of 
error,  obliged  to  assume  a  contemptible  authority, 
I  really  blush  to  appear  in  Rome,  in  Italy,  or  even 
before  Europe.  I  feel  ashamed  of  the  homage  paid 
to  me  as  if  I  were  a  living  idol,  that  public  opinion 
looks  upon  me  as  the  trustee  and  dispenser  of 
heavenly  gifts,  the  living  oracle  of  a  fabled  God. 
But  alas,  I  know  that  I  am  only  a  weak  mortal 
with  limited  facilities,  already  weighed  down  by  the 
infirmities  inseparable  from  our  peculiar  organiza- 
tion. How  can  I  pretend  to  foresee  the  future,  to 
send  some  of  my  fellow  creatures  to  heaven  and 
consign  others  to  the  torments  of  hell  ?  How  can 
I  wish  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  representative  of 
a  divinity,  when  I  know  nothing  of  such  a  being, 
although  lost  in  admiration  at  the  magnificence  of 
the  universe  and  the  existence  of  man,  and  yet,  man's 
existence  fails  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  being  still 
more  wonderful.  At  all  events,  my  friends,  you 
are  aware  that  a  pope  is  the  passive  creature  of  the 
College  of  Cardinals,  who  create  and  annihilate  Mm  at 
pleasure.  Though  we  are  supposed  to  rule  every- 
thing on  earth,  we  are  nevertheless  kept  in  the  most 
abject  slavery  by  this  dreaded  and  mysterious 
power  [the  Curia],  whose  revenge  is  sure  to  reach 
any  pope  who  may  have  thoughtlessly  wounded 
their  pride  or  endangered  their  temporal  welfare. 
In  public  the  pope  is  the  idol  of  the  tumultuous 
rabble,  but  in  the  mysterious  recesses  of  the  Vati- 
can this  very  pope,  who  has  in  one  hand  the  keys 
of  heaven  and  in  the  other  the  thunderbolt  of  ex- 
communication, is  a  mere  automaton,  a  passive 


M.  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII   77 

instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  cardinals  forming 
the  Sacred  College.  The  state  revenues  and  the 
money  raised  in  Catholic  countries  by  imposition, 
mendacity,  and  monopolies  are  divided  among  the 
cardinals,  as  plunder  is  divided  among  robbers,  and 
only  a  small  portion  falls  annually  to  the  share  of 
the  pontiff,  who  has  to  provide  for  all  the  expenses 
of  the  court,  and  to  pay  that  ready  tool  of  tyranny, 
a  soldier. 

"A  pope,  like  every  king,  is  a  mere  shadow,  con- 
jured up  by  a  powerful  body  of  men.  It  is  an 
'  idol  '  they  raise  to  frighten  a  credulous  and  ig- 
norant populace.  And  well  do  they  succeed  with 
their  divine  phantasmagoria,  for  it  enables  these 
designing  impostors  to  oppress  the  people  with 
the  iron  scepter  of  superstition.  Such,  my  friends, 
are  the  effects  of  a  system  which  was  invented  only 
to  degrade  mankind,  and  to  retain  the  masses  in  the 
gross  slumber  of  ignorance  and  error. 

"  Here,  Most  Holy  Father,  you  have  the  frank 
confession  of  your  illustrious  predecessor,  Gangan- 
elli,  without  doubt  the  best  pope  that  ever  as- 
cended the  throne  of  the  Vatican.  He  was  truly 
a  disciple  of  Plato,  and  yet,  as  if  to  prove  the  non- 
existence of  a  God,  or  at  least  of  His  goodness, 
the  world  was  bereaved  of  him  by  an  unnatural 
and  untimely  death.  What  atrocity !  In  the  midst 
of  a  congress  of  philosophers,  called  around  him 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  whilst  engaged 
in  the  noble  undertaking  of  restoring  the  golden 
age,  he  was  bereaved  of  life,  by  a  sacrilegious  and 
parricidal  hand.    It  was  the  cruel  priests  who  de- 


78  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

prived  Europe  and  the  whole  human  race  of  a 
friend     and     benefactor.      But    truth,     impartial 
truth,  discovered  a  crime  which  filled  the  world 
with  consternation,  and  though  his  blood  till  now 
has  called  in  vain  for  vengeance,  yet  the  day  of 
retribution    will    surely    arrive.     Ganganelli    was 
desirous   of   abolishing   the   gross   abuses   of   the 
Catholic  Church  by  putting  an  end  to  monopolies 
and  peculation,  and   above  all  of  banishing   from 
the  Roman  court  those  bestial  vices  which  so  long 
have  held  such  a  baneful  ascendency  there.     It 
was  his  intention  to  remove  from  their  pedestals 
the  numerous  images  of  gods,  goddesses,  angels, 
and  saints,  which  only  serve  to  nourish  the  idola- 
trous superstition  of  the  weak  and  ignorant.     He 
also  wished  to  remove  the  established  priesthood, 
whose  places  he  proposed  filling  with  educated  and 
virtuous  men  who,  having  nothing  to  do  with  spec- 
ulative opinions,  would    devote  all  their   energies 
to  teaching  and  inculcating  Plato's  sublime  morality 
in  all  its  purity,   and   making  good   and   honest 
citizens  of  the  entire  human  family.     But,  alas! 
whilst    engaged  with    his    philosophic    friends    in 
devising    means    to    bring    about    this    important 
reform,  a  murderous  priest,  the  basest  of  cardinals, 
contrived  to  have  a  subtle  poison  mixed  with  his 
food,  and  the  last  sigh  of  his  pure  and  unsubdued 
heart  was  a  sigh  for  the  happiness  and  welfare  of 
his  fellowmen.     He  was  the  first  and  last  pope  who 
practised  virtue  and  lost  his  life  in  defense  of  truth. 
He  was  the  only  one  who  carried  with  him  to  the 
tomb  the  regrets  and  blessings  of  honorable  and 


M.  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII    79 

sensible  hearts.  Such  a  pope  would  not  have  acted 
towards  me  as  you  have,  for  he  never  had  recourse 
to  "  excommunications,"  which  were  looked  upon 
by  him  as  mere  scarecrows  to  frighten  credulous 
men.  And  this  naturally  leads  me  to  ask  you, 
Most  Holy  Father,  what  you  understood  by  the 
word  "  excommunication  "  and  what  are  its  effects  ? 
But  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  business  is, 
that  you  invoke  the  devil  before  you  can  excom- 
municate a  person,  and  as  his  sooty  highness  owes 
no  allegiance  to  the  court  of  Rome,  you  are  obliged 
to  assume  his  supposed  manners  by  howling  like 
a  wild  beast  and  making  the  most  frightful  gesticu- 
lations. But  allow  me  to  ask  you,  Where  is  your 
authority  for  all  these  antics?  Who  authorized 
you  to  curse  the  entire  human  family  ?  Who  gave 
you  leave  to  exercise  the  most  intolerable  despotism 
over  the  conscience,  the  opinions,  and  the  thoughts 
of  your  fellowmen?  You  hesitate  to  answer.  I 
will  do  so  for  you.  Ignorant  men!  'Who  overlooked 
your  conceits,  pride,  and  arrogance  ?  Ignorant 
men!  Who  countenanced  your  impudent  claims 
to  the  keys  of  Paradise  ?  Ignorant  men!  Who 
emboldened  you  to  say  that  you  had  a  separate 
place  in  heaven,  and  that  none  could  go  there 
without  your  leave  or  a  passport  from  you? 
Ignorant  men!  Who  gave  you  the  privilege  of 
calling  yourself  ambassador  and  vice-gerent  of 
God?  Ignorant  men!  Yes,  Most  Holy  Father, 
ignorant  and  credulous  men  have  made  you  what 
you  are  —  a  puppet  in  the  sacred  drama  of  re- 
ligion, to  be  scorned  and  avoided  by  the  reflecting 


80  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

portion  of  mankind.  Had  it  not  been  for  these 
ignorant  men,  you  might  have  been  either  a 
gardener  or  vine  dresser,  in  which  capacity  you 
would  have  deserved  the  esteem  of  your  neighbors, 
whilst  in  your  present  avocation  you  are  execrated 
by  all  who  possess  any  claim  to  reason,  philosophy, 
and  honesty.  I  charge  you,  then,  Most  Holy 
Father,  with  being  accessory  to  the  oceans  of  blood 
which  have  been  shed  in  the  name  of  and  for  the 
extension  of  your  cruel  religion.  I  charge  you 
with  being  a  traitor  to  the  people's  rights.  I  charge 
you  with  an  incorrigible  love  of  power  and  anti- 
pathy to  the  prospects  of  future  freedom.  I 
charge  you  with  affecting  magnanimity  and  moder- 
ation in  public,  whilst  you  cling  in  secret  to  every 
vestige  of  power,  and  scruple  not  to  promote  it  by 
treachery  and  violence.  I  charge  you  with  having 
spared  no  pains,  scrupled  at  no  means,  hesitated 
at  no  injustice,  to  destroy  philosophy  and  common 
sense.  Remember  that  the  stern  and  inflexible 
eye  of  truth  and  reason  is  now  on  you,  and  that 
the  foundations  of  your  faith  are  crumbling.  Be 
wise,  then,  and  renounce  your  system  of  consum- 
mate hypocrisy,  before  the  majority  of  your  fellow- 
men  shall  have  discovered  the  deception  and 
retaliate  on  you  and  your  fraternity  with  indis- 
criminate severity.  Endeavor  to  lay  aside  pride, 
the  insatiable  desire  of  wealth,  and  the  unbounded 
and  extravagant  assumption  of  power.  My  letter 
may  appear  unnecessarily  harsh,  but  my  motives 
are  good,  and  as  principles  are  of  more  importance 
than  individuals,  I  have  deemed  it  best  to  write 


M.  de  Talleyrand's  Letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII    81 

the  truth,  hoping  and  trusting  it  may  not  give 
offense." 

Talleyrand's  letter  to  Pope  Pius  VII  is 
educational  from  every  standpoint,  and  should  be 
sent  in  pamphlet  form  to  the  young  men  now 
coming  to  the  front,  whose  intelligent'services  to  the 
nation  are  desired. 


OATH  OF  A  JESUIT  PRIEST* 

I,  A.  B.,  now  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God, 
the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the  blessed  Michael 
the  Archangel,  the  blessed  St.  John  Baptist, 
the  holy  Apostles  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul,  and 
the  saints  and  sacred  host  of  heaven,  and  to  you 
my  ghostly  father,  do  declare  from  my  heart, 
without  mental  reservation,  that  his  holiness,  Pope 
Urban,t  is  Christ's  vicar  general,  and  is  the  true 
and  only  head  of  the  Catholic  or  Universal  Church 
throughout  the  earth;  and  that  by  virtue  of  the 
keys  of  binding  and  loosing,  given  to  his  holiness 
by  my  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ,  he  hath  power  to 
depose  heretical  kings,  princes,  states,  common- 
wealths, and  governments,  all  being  illegal  without 
his  sacred  confirmation,  and  that  they  safely  may 
be  destroyed.  Therefore,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power, 
I  shall  and  will  defend  this  doctrine,  and  his  holi- 
ness' rights  and  customs,  against  all  usurpers  of 
the  heretical  (or  Protestant)  authority  whatsoever, 
especially  against  the  now  pretended  authority  and 
Church  of  England,  and  all  adherents,  in  regard 
that  they   and  she  be  usurpatory  and  heretical, 

*The  oaths  of  both  bishops  and  priests  here  given  are  copied  from 
an  edition  of  this  work  published  in  1854  by  A.  N.  Sprague,  No.  22 
Beekman  Street,  New  York,  and  the  unprejudiced  reader  will  not  fail 
to  observe  how  tenderly  the  opposing  sects  of  Christians  love  one  an- 
other, and  with  what  familiarity  and  freedom  such  endearing  epithets 
as  "  damned,"  "  damnable,"  and  "  to  be  damned  "  are  used  by  the 
followers  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus. 
fNow,  1909,  it  is  Pope  Pius  X. 

82 


Oath  of  a  Jesuit  Priest  83 

opposing  the  sacred  Mother  Church  of  Rome.  I 
do  renounce  and  disown  any  allegiance  as  due  to 
any  heretical  king,  prince,  or  stated,  named 
Protestant,  or  obedience  to  any  of  their  inferior 
magistrates  or  officers.  I  do  further  declare,  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  of  the 
Calvinists,  Huguenots,  and  of  others  of  the  name  of 
Protestants,  to  be  damnable,  and  they  themselves 
are  damned,  and  to  be  damned,  that  will  not  for- 
sake the  same.  I  do  further  declare  that  I  will 
help,  assist,  and  advise  all  or  any  of  his  holiness' 
agents  in  any  place  wherever  I  may  be,  in  England 
or  in  any  other  territory  or  kingdom  I  shall  come 
to,  and  do  my  utmost  to  extirpate  the  heretical 
Protestants'  doctrine,  and  to  destroy  all  their  pre- 
tended powers,  regal  or  otherwise.  I  do  further 
promise  and  declare  that  notwithstanding  I  am 
dispensed  with  to  assume  any  religion  heretical, 
for  the  propagating  of  the  Mother  Church's  in- 
terests, to  keep  secret  and  private  all  her  agents' 
counsels,  from  time  to  time,  as  they  entrust  me, 
and  not  to  divulge,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  word, 
writing,  or  circumstances  whatsoever,  but  to  exe- 
cute  all  that  shall  be  proposed,  given  in  charge, 
or  discovered  unto  me,  by  you,  my  ghostly  father, 
or  any  of  this  sacred  convent.  All  which,  I,  A.B., 
do  swear  by  the  Blessed  Trinity  and  blessed  sacra- 
ments which  I  am  now  to  receive,  to  perform  and 
on  my  part  to  keep  inviolable,  and  do  call  all  the 
heavenly  and  glorious  host  of  heaven  to  witness 
these  my  real  intentions  to  keep  this  my  oath.  In 
testimony   whereof,   I   take   this   most   holy   and 


84  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

blessed  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist,  and  witness 
the  same  further  with  my  hand  and  seal  in  the  face 

of  this  holy   convent,   this day   of  — — Anno 

Domini. 


THE  ROMAN  PRIEST'S  OATH 

I,  A.  B.,  do  acknowledge  the  ecclesiastical  power 
of  his  holiness  and  the  Mother  Church  of 
Rome,  as  the  chief  head  and  matron  above 
all  pretended  churches  throughout  the  whole 
earth,  and  that  my  zeal  shall  be  for  St.  Peter  and 
his  successors  as  the  founder  of  the  true  and 
ancient  Catholic  faith,  against  all  heretical  kings, 
princes,  states,  or  powers  repugnant  unto  the  same, 
and  although  I,  A.  B.,  may  follow,  in  case  of 
persecution  or  otherwise,  to  be  heretically  despised, 
yet  in  soul  and  conscience  I  shall  hold,  aid,  and 
succor  the  Mother  Church  of  Rome,  as  the  true, 
ancient,  and  apostolic  church.  I,  A.  B.,  further 
declare  not  to  act  or  control  any  matter  or  thing 
prejudicial  unto  her,  in  her  sacred  orders,  doctrines, 
tenets,  or  commands,  without  leave  of  its  supreme 
power  or  its  authority  under  her  appointed,  or  to 
be  appointed,  and  being  so  permitted,  then  to  act, 
and  further  her  interests  more  than  my  own  earthly 
good  and  pleasure,  as  she  and  her^  head,  his 
holiness,  and  his  successors  have,  or  ought  to  have, 
the  supremacy  over  all  kings,  princes,  estates,  or 
powers  whatsoever,  either  to  deprive  them  of  their 
crowns,  scepters,  powers,  privileges,  realms, 
countries,  or  governments,  or  to  set  up  others  in 
lieu  thereof,  they  dissenting  from  Mother  Church 
and  her  commands. 

85 


THE   PAPAL   ATTACK   ON  FRANCE    TO- 
GETHER WITH  THE  PAPAL  AGGRES- 
SION IN  FRANCE  AND  ITS  SIGNIF- 
ICANCE FOR  OTHER  NATIONS 

A  BRIEF  compilation  of  two  articles  en- 
titled "The  Papal  Attack  on  France," 
Nineteenth  Century  Magazine,  April,  1906, 
and  "  The  Papal  Aggression  in  France 
and  its  Significance  for  other  Nations,"  Fort- 
nightly Review,  October,  1906,  by  Robert  Dell. 
First,  "As  to  the  Papal  Attack  on  France  " : 
"  The  French  Church  has  been  given  by  the  re- 
public free  religious  liberty,  an  autonomy  it  has  not 
enjoyed  for  centuries.  The  ancient  cathedrals 
and  churches  which  are  by  law  public  property 
are  handed  over  for  use,  with  all  their  contents,  and 
the  rest  of  the  church  property,  permanently  and 
free  of  charge  to  the  Catholic  Church.  The  pope 
reprobates  and  condemns  this  gift  of  spiritual 
freedom,  the  liberty  offered  the  church,  and  rejects 
it  with  curses  and  anathemas,  liberty  to  be  enjoyed 
equally  with  other  religious  bodies;  but  that  is  just 
what  he  does  not  want  and  will  not  have.  The 
pope  claims  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  the 
right  "  to  the  sole  and  undivided  allegiance  of 
states  no  less  than  of  individuals ;  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  every  state  to  put  that  church  in  a  position  of 
privilege,  and  to  submit  to  its  right  of  dominion 

86 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  87 

over  the  civil  power;  that  the  pope  has  the  right  to 
depose  civil  rulers,  and  to  absolve  the  peoples  from 
their  oath  of  fealty  to  the  state;  that  the  temporal 
authority  must  be  subject  to  the  spiritual  power. 
'  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  man;  '  that  is, 
we  must  obey  the  pope,  and  not  the  law  of  the  land. 
The  pope  has  absolved  us  from  our  fealty  to  our 
country."  (The  attention  of  the  citizens  of  other 
countries  is  called  to  the  above  claims,  for  the  time 
may  come  when  they  shall  have  to  face  a  similar 
position.)  The  papacy  have  nothing  but  pleas- 
ant things  to  say  of  the  freedom  they  enjoy  under 
English  law,  and  of  the  equality  and  toleration 
that  exists;  but  the  "  Encyclical  Vehementer  nos  " 
condemns  this  system  of  toleration  and  equality, 
absolutely  and  unequivocally.  Would  there  be 
any  toleration  or  religious  equality  if  the  Catholic 
Church  had  retained  her  hold  on  England  ?  "  We 
are  Catholics  first  and  Englishmen  afterwards," 
says  a  lay  official  of  a  Catholic  society  at  a  Catholic 
banquet.  The  pope  has  declared  the  church 
"  will  never  accept "  a  regime  of  religious  tolera- 
tion and  equality. 

"But  Rome  acquiesces  in  such  a  regime  in 
America  simply  because  she  cannot  help  it,  and  is 
not  yet  strong  enough  to  get  anything  better. 
The  issue  in  France  is  whether  the  civil  power  is 
to  submit  to  the  domination  of  a  theocracy.  A 
body  of  citizens  said,  in  the  famous  words  of  Louis 
Veuillot,  ' :  We  demand  from  you  the  liberty  which 
on  your  principles  you  are  bound  to  give  us,  and 
which  on  our  principles  we  shall  deny  to  you  when 


88  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

we  have  the  power."  The  French  republic  replied 
to  such  people,  '  Liberty  can  safely  be  granted 
only  when  measures  have  been  taken  to  make  it 
impossible  to  use  their  liberty  to  destroy  that  of 
others,"  and  every  state  must  make  the  same 
answer  to  those  who  conspire  against  its  autonomy 
or  the  freedom  of  their  fellow  citizens.  And  again, 
"  We  declare  war  upon  progress,  liberalism,  and 
modern  civilization.  We  have  been  ordered  to 
do  so  by  the  representative  of  God  on  earth, 
rather  than  man."  The  French  government  re- 
plied, "  that,  as  it  happened  to  believe  in  progress, 
liberalism,  and  modern  civilization,  it  was  quite 
willing  to  fight  for  them,"  and  proceeded  to  do  so, 
whereupon  the  challengers  raised  a  howl  of 
"  persecution,"  on  the  principle,  "  I  may  hit  you, 
but  if  you  hit  back  I  am  a  martyr."  For  thirty 
years  the  French  republic  has  had  to  fight  in  self 
defense,  not  against  the  church  as  a  spiritual  in- 
fluence, but  as  a  'political  institution.  French 
Catholics  as  a  body  are  hostile  to  the  republic. 
From  1871  to  1875  the  Catholics  had  the  whole 
control  of  France.  That  control  they  used  to  plot 
for  the  restoration  of  the  monarchy.  In  1877 
they  were  driven  from  power  by  an  outraged 
nation,  never  to  return. 

Let  us  take  the  evidence  on  this  point  of  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  French  prelates,  Mgr.  Lacroix,  Bishop  of 
Tarentaise,  who,  in  a  recent  pastoral,  says,  "  Our  mistake, 
our  great  mistake  - —  we  must  have  the  courage  to  admit  it  — 
has  been  our  refusal  from  the  very  beginning  of  the  republic 
to  recognize  that  the  will  of  the  nation  cannot  be  traversed 
(thwarted)    with  impunity.     Our  hesitations,  our  criticisms 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  89 

(often  wholly  unjust),  our  aspirations  and  dreams  of  the 
restoration  of  a  regime  in  which,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  the  lot  of 
the  church  would  be  happier  because  she  would  be  more 
protected.  Finally  our  compromising  alliances  with  the 
promoters  of  civil  war, —  all  these  have  been  disastrous  to  us, 
have  covered  us  with  unpopularity,  have  estranged  us  from 
the  masses  of  people.  A  certain  Pere  Le  Dore,  superior 
of  a  religious  order,  on  his  return  to  Paris  from  a  visit  to 
Rome,  said,  "  The  Holy  Father  said  he  would  order  French 
Catholics  to  revolt  against  the  law,  if  he  could  be  quite  sure 
they  would  all  obey  him."  Dore  further  said,  '  It  is  not 
enough  to  offer  prayers,  to  make  communions,  to  go  on 
pilgrimages.  What  is  wanted  is  blood;  blood  alone  can 
appease  the  wrath  of  God;  and  when  the  pope  asked  me: 
"  Well,  Father,  what  do  you  propose  to  do  ?  "  I  replied, 
"  Holy  Father,  I  wish  to  give  battle,  to  fight,  to  organize, 
and  I  shall  not  be  satisfied  until  I  have  caused  two  or  three 
dozen  good  nuns  to  be  killed  and  massacred."  The  Osser- 
vatore  Romano  has  declared  this  account  of  the  audience  with 
the  pope  to  be  fictitious;  yet,  in  spite  of  this  serious  reflection 
on  his  veracity  and  the  fact  that  he  has  been  guilty  of  a  public 
incitement  to  murder  and  armed  rebellion,  he  remains  the 
general  superior  of  a  religious  order  and  has  incurred  no 
formal  censure.  This  is  no  isolated  case,  nor  is  there  any- 
thing new  in  all  this. 

They  were  in  possession  of  every  public  office,  officials  of 
every  grade  at  their  beck  and  call.  "  What  blunders  must 
they  not  have  committed  to  have  been  driven  from  power, 
to  a  man,  when  they  held  every  avenue  to  it,"  says  Leon 
Chaine,  a  lay  Catholic  writer.  What  Englishmen  must 
realize,  is,  that  the  clerical  party  in  France,  if  they  had  the 
power,  would  repeat  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  to- 
morrow, without  the  slightest  compunction.  Can  we  wonder 
that  anti-clerical  feeling  in  France  is  what  it  is  ?  that  to  give 
liberty  to  these  people  is  about  as  safe  as  to  give  it  to  mad 


90  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

dogs?  A  system  of  autocracy  and  terrorism  has  crushed  out 
initiative  and  extinguished  healthy  public  opinion  among 
Catholics.  Few  dare  to  speak,  to  whom,  alone,  Rome  always 
gives  unbounded  license.  In  this  crisis  Rome  has  assumed 
all  the  power  and  with  it  goes  all  the  responsibility.  The  Asso- 
ciations Cultuelles  gives  the  laity  a  voice  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  church  property  and  will  be  freely  formed  without 
authorization,  and  have  privileges  no  other  associations  enjoy. 
There  is  not  a  vestige  of  excuse  for  the  outcry  against 
the  law.  Protestants  would  be  far  more  injuriously 
affected  than  Catholics  by  any  oppressive  provisions.  Again 
and  again  it  has  given  these  people  a  chance  of  settling  down 
to  be  content  with  the  same  rights  and  liberties  as  their  fellow- 
citizens;  when  suddenly,  a  plot  for  the  destruction  of  the 
republic  was  discovered,  engineered  by  organizations  pledged 
to  blind  obedience  to  an  executive  seated  in  a  foreign  country, 
and  chiefly  composed  of  foreigners.  Then  the  republic 
rose  in  its  wrath,  and  deprived  them  of  control  over  the  edu- 
cation of  the  nation.  The  organizations  loudly  protested 
in  the  name  of  absolute  liberty,  they,  the  men  who  had 
preached  day  after  day  that  it  was  a  Christian  duty  to  mas- 
sacre the  Jews,  who  had  demanded  the  suppression  of  all 
Masonic  lodges,  and  called  on  the  nation  to  bid  all  impious 
sects  to  vanish  from  the  soil  of  France.  Nothing  could  be 
more  alien  from  the  spirit  of  Christ  than  the  lust  of  dominion. 
It  was  the  same  spirit  that  led  a  pope  to  offer  public  thanks 
for  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,*  and  to  order  Vasari  to 
paint  the  murder  of  Coligny  on  the  walls  of  the  Vatican 
among  the  triumphs  of  the  church.  No  Christian  sovereign 
of  modern  times  has  left  a  worse  memory  behind  him  than 
Ferdinand  II  of  Naples,  who  received  the  pope  when  he  fled 
to  Naples,  in  1848.  He  not  only  destroyed  the  constitution 
he  had  sworn  to  observe,  but  threw  into  a  loathsome  dungeon 
the  liberal  ministers  who  had  trusted  him.  But  in  the  eyes 
*Page  180,  "  The  Map  of  Life  "  —  Lecky. 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  91 

of  the  pope  his  services  to  the  church  far  outweighed  all 
defects,   and  the  monument  erected  to  this  "  most  pious 
prince  "  may  be  seen  in  one  of  the  chapels  of  St.  Peter's. 
"  The  French  republic  is  irrevocably  fundamentally  anti- 
clerical.    It  has  been  so  for  centuries,  and  it  will  always  be 
so.     The  French  republic  must  defend  itself  against  rebellion, 
however  specious  its  pretext,  and  it  will  certainly  do  so.     It 
will  be  equally  clear  that  that  defense  is  not  a  religious  perse- 
cution.    France  will  be  able  to  say  to  the  pope,    "  You  now 
know  what  we  are  fighting  for;    we  are  struggling  for  the 
preservation  of  liberty  of  thought.     We  are  struggling  to 
prevent  the  Catholic  Church  from  tyrannizing  over  men's 
and  women's  consciences.     We  are  struggling,  not  to  attack 
your  freedom  of  belief,  but  to  make  it  finally  impossible  for 
you  to  impose  your  belief  on  others  by  constraint  and  force. 
In  that  struggle  France  will  have  the  sympathy  of  the  English 
race.     Catholic    England    in    the    thirteenth    century    rose 
against  the  king,  who  submitted  to  the  temporal  claims  of  the 
papacy,  and  treated  with  contempt  the  condemnation  of  the 
Great  Charter  by  Innocent  the  Third.     Republican  France 
in  the  twentieth  century  can  hardly  do  less  than  follow  so 
excellent    an     example.     France    desires     peace.     Should, 
however,  war  be  declared  by  the  pope  on  the  republic,  it  will 
be  fought  to  the  finish,  and  there  cannot  be  the  smallest 
doubt  as  to  the  result.     If  compelled  to  vindicate  her  civil 
autonomy  (right  of  self  government)  against  Roman  aggres- 
sion, her  cause  will  be  the  cause  of  every  free  people. 

Second:  The  Papal  Aggression  in  France  and 
its  Significance  for  other  Nations. 

"  In  the  year  1570,  Pius  V  absolved  English 
capitalists  from  their  allegiance  to  Elizabeth 
and  called  upon  them  to  revolt  against  their 
sovereign,    and    to    betray    their    country    to    a 


92  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

foreign  enemy.  In  both  cases,  Spanish  and  Jesuit 
influences  in  the  Vatican  were  in  large  measure 
responsible  for  the  papal  policy. 

"  In  the  recent  case  the  place  of  Philip  was  taken 
rather  by  theJGerman  emperor  than  by  Cardinal 
Viorsy  Tuto,  and  Cardinal  Merry  del  Val;  and  the 
late  Father  Martin  played  the  sinister  part  of 
Robert  Parsons.  Whenever  Spanish  and  Jesuit 
influences  have  been  in  the  ascendant  at  Rome  the 
Catholic  Church  has  paid  dearly  for  them.  Not 
only  in  France  where  Catholics  are  placed,  as  were 
their  English  coreligionists  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
in  the  position  of  having  to  choose  between  their 
country  and  their  church,  will  Catholicism  reap  the 
bitter  harvest  of  the  policy  of  Pius  X;  that  policy 
must  recoil  on  Catholics  in  every  civilized  country. 
None  have  more  reason  to  resent  it  than  those  who, 
like  the  present  writer,  are  Catholics,  not  by  inheri- 
tance or  early  training  or  habit,  but  by  their  own 
deliberate  choice,  who  have  come  into  the  church 
of  their  own  free  will,  and  by  an  act  of  private 
judgment,  because  they  were  convinced,  after 
much  hesitation  and  inquiry,  of  the  justice  of  her 
claims.  For  what  is  our  position  ?  We  became 
Catholics  for  purely  religious  reasons;  we  accepted 
the  papacy  as  a  spiritual  and  moral,  but  in  no  sense 
as  a  political,  authority;  we  made  no  profession  of 
undivided  allegiance  to  the  pope;  we  gave  no 
pledge  to  renounce  our  allegiance  to  the  civil 
government  and  the  laws  of  our  country  at  the  will 
and  pleasure  of  an  ecclesiastical  authority;  no  such 
profession  and  no  such  pledge  were  demanded  of 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  93 

us.  We  now  find  ourselves  face  to  face  with  the 
claim  of  the  pope  that  his  authority  is  absolute  and 
unlimited,  that  he  can  at  will  annul  and  set  aside 
laws  regularly  made  by  the  constituted  law-making 
authority,  and  that,  if  he  annuls  them  or  sets  them 
aside,  we  are  bound  to  disobey  them.  Hitherto 
the  desire  to  make  proselytes  would  seem  to  have 
blunted  the  moral  sense  of  those  who  are  possessed 
by  it.  How  else  can  we  account  for  the  remarkable 
difference  between  the  plausible  presentment  of 
Catholic  teaching  and  obligation  that  is  dangled 
before  the  outside  world  in  controversial  lectures 
and  publications,  and  that  which  the  dominant 
ultramontane  party  imposes  on  those  who  are 
inside  the  church  ?  If  any  one  thinks  I  am  speak- 
ing too  strongly  let  him  study  the  utterances  of 
French  ultramontanes  in  the  present  crisis.  He 
will  find  bishops  declaring  that  the  will  of  the  pope 
is  the  will  of  God,  absolutely,  and  with  no  restric- 
tion; he  will  find  the  authorized  organs  in  the 
press  of  ultramontane  opinion,  the  semi-official  ex- 
ponents of  the  mind  of  the  Vatican,  declaring  expli- 
citly that  the  pope  has  a  divine  and  immutable 
right  to  ratify,  or  refuse  to  ratify,  civil  legislation 
(the  deposing  power  applied  to  modern  conditions) 
and  —  which  is  still  more  significant  —  he  will 
find  men  of  superior  intelligence  and  ability, 
credited  with  modern  and  intellectual  sympathies, 
accepting  these  principles  as  a  matter  of  course; 
otherwise,  how  could  such  men  as  M.  Brunetiere, 
Count  d'Hansonville,  and  the  Viscount  de  Vogue 
have  stultified  themselves  as  they  have. 


94  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

"  Before  the  pope  had  spoken  they  declared  that 
the  policy  which  he  has  now  adopted  must  inevi- 
tably be  fatal  to  the  church  and  to  the  religion  of 
France;  now  they  declare  that  any  one  who  does 
not  blindly  follow  that  fatal  policy  is  no  true 
Catholic.  Has  the  papal  policy  altered  the  facts, 
or  do  these  gentlemen  sincerely  believe  that  an 
Italian  pope  who  knows  nothing  of  any  country  but 
his  own,  who  has  a  narrow  seminary  training,  who 
cannot  even  understand  the  French  language,  is 
infallibly  certain  to  make  a  more  accurate  induction 
from  facts  with  which  he  is  imperfectly  acquainted, 
than  was  made  by  the  great  majority  of  educated 
and  intelligent  Frenchmen,  whether  bishops, 
priests,  or  laymen,  from  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  facts  ? 

"  It  is  not  yet  a  dogma,  that  election  to  the  papacy 
miraculously  invests  the  elect  with  knowledge  or 
abilities  that  he  did  not  possess  before.  ...  If 
Catholics  cannot,  without  incurring  the  reproach 
of  heresy  and  disloyalty,  venture  to  put  before  the 
pope  the  reasons  why,  in  the  highest  interests  of 
religion  and  with  the  most  profound  concern  for 
the  future  of  Catholicism,  they  deplore  his  political 
policy,  and  entreat  him  to  abandon  it,  then,  indeed, 
they  are  living  under  a  despotism  in  comparison 
with  which  the  Ottoman  Empire  is  almost  liberal. 

"  In  1826  the  Catholic  bishops  of  Great  Britain 
denied  that  the  pope  has  '  any  right,  directly  or 
indirectly,  to  any  civil  or  temporal  jurisdiction, 
power,  superiority,  pre-eminence,  or  authority, 
within  this  realm,'  declared  that  the  allegiance  of 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  95 

Catholics  to  the  civil  power  is  '  entire  and  undi- 
vided,'  and    affirmed    that   they   held    themselves 
'  bound  in  conscience  to  obey  the  civil  government 
of  this  realm  in  all  things  of  a  temporal  and  civil 
nature,  notwithstanding  any  dispensation  or  order 
to  the  contrary  had,  or  to  be  had,  from  the  pope  or 
any  authority  of  the  Church  of  Rome,'  the  '  civil 
power  of  the  state,  and  the  spiritual  authority  of 
the  Catholic  Church  being  absolutely  distinct,  and 
being  never  intended  by  their  Divine  Author  to  in- 
terfere  or    clash   with    each    other.'      '  Had   that 
declaration  not  been  made,  the  Catholic  Emancipa- 
tion  Act  would   certainly  not   have   been   passed 
when   it   was.'      Referring   to   the   demonstration 
held  in   London   between  English   Catholics  and 
French  clericals,  the  writer  says :    '  From  the  na- 
tional point  of  view  the  demonstration  won't  do 
much    harm.     The    French    people    now    know 
enough  about  England  not  to  mistake  a  sectarian 
manifestation  for  an  expression  of  English  opinion. 
It  will  show  the  English  people  that  the  official 
representatives   of   Catholicism   in   England   hold 
themselves  bound  to  disobey  '  the  civil  government 
of  this  realm,'  and  to  revolt  against  the  laws,  if  the 
pope  orders  them  to  do  so.     What  is  true  of  England 
is  true  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  every  country. 
Every  government  has  now  to  take  into  account 
the  fact  that,  for  the  present  pope  the  claim  of  the 
deposing  power  is  no  mere  shadowy  theory,  and  the 
supremacy  of  the  church  over  the  state  is  an  inviol- 
able principle  to  be  enforced  at  all  costs.     There 
can  only  be  one  result  of  all  this:     wherever  the 


96  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

attempt  at  clerical  aggrandizement  is  made  it  will 
be  met,  as  in  France,  by  organized  anti-clericalism, 
and  the  result,  as  in  France,  will  be  the  overthrow 
of  the  church,  which  will  naturally  and  inevitably 
be  identified  with  clericalism.  .  .  .  Although  most 
of  his  self-appointed  apologists  are  trying  to  obscure 
the  issue,  the  pope  makes  no  attempt  to  conceal  the 
reasons  for  his  decision,  and  states  them  in  explicit 
language.  He  demands  that  '  the  immutable 
rights  of  the  Roman  pontiff  and  of  the  bishops,  and 
their  authority  over  the  necessary  property  of  the 
church,  particularly  over  the  sacred  edifices  '  shall 
be  established  by  the  law.  This  demand  is 
wholly  incompatible  with  the  separation  of  church 
and  state.  The  principles  underlying  it  are  (1)  that 
ecclesiastical  property  is  the  property  of  the  pope, 
and  subject  to  his  sole  will  and  disposition,  and 
(<2),  that  the  state  is  bound  to  maintain  the  Catholic 
Church  in  a  position  of  privilege,  and  to  secure  the 
rights  of  the  hierarchy  by  the  secular  arm,  '  if,' 
says  the  pope  later  on  in  the  encyclical,  any  state 
has  separated  from  the  church,  while  leaving  to  her 
the  resource  of  the  liberty  common  to  all  and  the 
free  disposal  of  the  property,  that  state  has,  without 
doubt,  and  on  more  than  one  ground,  acted  un- 
justly. The  pope  is  attacking  the  French  republic, 
not  in  defense  of  religious  liberty,  but  because  the 
French  republic  has  placed  all  religious  bodies  alike 
under  a  regime  of  religious  liberty,  equality,  and 
toleration,  and  he  accuses  the  authors  of  the  Sepa- 
ration Law  of  wishing  to  make  it  '  a  law,  not  of 
separation,  but  of  oppression.'     One  of  the  cases 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  97 

in  which  it  is  easier  to  make  the  accusation  than 
to  prove  it.  English  readers  must  imagine  that 
the  churches  in  France  have  hitherto  been  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities,  and 
that  the  state  has  incontinently  seized  upon  them. 
Yet  in  the  whole  history  of  France  the  churches 
have  never  been  the  property  of  the  bishops,  still 
less  of  the  pope,  any  more  than  they  were  in  Eng- 
land or  in  any  other  Catholic  country  in  the  middle 
ages.  .  .  .  Why,  then,  has  the  pope  refused  the 
request  of  nearly  two  thirds  of  the  French  bishops 
to  be  allowed  to  form  associations  cultuelles  on 
the  Archbishop  of  Besancon's  model?  The  only 
possible  answer  is  that  which  has  already  been 
given :  his  refusal  is  not  due  to  the  provisions  of  the 
Separation  Law.  It  is  an  application  of  rigid  and 
absolute  principles,  and  an  attack  on  the  autonomy 
of  the  state.  .  .  .  Rome  will  put  up  with  religious 
equality  and  toleration  in  a  Protestant  country  so 
long  as  she  is  not  strong  enough  to  claim  anything 
more  (as  in  Prussia),  but  in  a  Catholic  country  the 
pretence  that  she  only  wants  the  same  rights  as 
other  people  is  discarded.  .  .  . 

"At  present  the  center,  or  clerical  party,  holds  the 
balance  of  power  in  the  German  Reichstag;  the 
members  of  that  party  consistently  prefer  clerical 
to  national  interests,  and  traffic  their  votes  in  return 
for  such  concessions  as  the  relaxation  in  1904  of 
the  law  expelling  the  Jesuits  from  Germany.  The 
emperor,  on  his  part,  has  been  able  to  secure  the 
passing  of  his  naval  program,  aimed  at  this  (Eng- 
land) country,  and  other  measures  which  he  con- 


98  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

siders  essential,  only  by  buying  the  clerical  vote.  .  .  . 
The  Jesuits  have  never  allowed  religious  or  moral 
considerations  to  interfere  with  their  political 
schemes.  When  Clement  XIV  suppressed  the 
Society  of  Jesus  at  the  request  of  every  Catholic 
state  in  Europe,  it  was  under  the  protection  of  the 
Protestant  king  of  Prussia  and  the  schismatic 
Russian  empress  that  the  Jesuits  defied  the  papal 
decree.  A  Jesuit  father,  in  a  sermon  preached  at 
Farm  Street  on  September  9,  openly  threatened 
England  and  France  with  the  divine  vengeance  in 
the  form  of  a  disastrous  war,  unless  they  submitted 
to  the  claims  of  the  papacy.  The  execution  of 
divine  vengeance  is  not  in  the  hands  of  the  Society 
of  Jesus  now,  any  more  than  it  was  in  the  days  of 
the  Armada,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  be  grate- 
ful to  the  Jesuits  for  so  openly  showing  their  hand 
with  that  blundering  diplomacy  which  has  char- 
acterized them  all  through  their  history. 

"  The  action  of  the  French  bishops  at  their 
assembly  last  May,  in  making  a  stand  against  the 
powerful  influences  thus  arrayed  against  them, 
was  in  the  highest  degree  creditable  alike  to  their 
wisdom  and  their  courage,  to  their  patriotism  and 
their  faith.  They  knew  that  the  pope  desired 
them  to  declare  in  favor  of  war  between  church 
and  state;  they  were  well  aware  that  their  advice 
had  been  asked  only  because  the  Vatican  desired 
to  throw  on  them  the  responsibility  of  its  own 
policy;  they  declined  to  walk  into  the  trap  that 
had  been  laid  for  them,  or  to  compromise  the  cause 
of  religion  in  the  interest  of  the  enemies  of  the 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  99 

republic.  The  first  of  the  questions  which  the 
Vatican  called  upon  them  to  answer  put  them  in  a 
difficult  position.  They  were  asked  whether  the 
associations  cultuettes,  '  as  the  law  establishes 
them,'  could  be  reconciled  with  the  rights  of  the 
church.  Since  the  pope  had  already,  in  the  en- 
cyclical Vehementer  Nos,  condemned  those  associa- 
tions without  qualification,  they  could  hardly 
answer  this  question  in  the  affirmative,  and  with 
two  exceptions  they  replied  to  it  in  the  negative. 
The  next  question  was  whether  the  formation  of 
associations  cultuelles  would  be  '  of  greater  prac- 
tical utility  to  the  church  '  than  the  omission  to 
form  them.  To  this  question  they  replied  in  the 
affirmative  by  forty-eight  votes  against  twenty-six, 
and  subsequently  recommended  with  unanimity 
the  adoption  of  the  constitutions  and  rules  pro- 
posed by  the  Archbishop  of  Besancon.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  the  large  majority  of  bishops  are 
far  from  being  republicans,  that  they  had  no 
longer  anything  to  gain  by  conciliating  the  gov- 
ernment, and  had  everything  to  lose  by  offending 
the  pope,  it  must  be  admitted  that  their  decision 
carries  enormous  weight,  and  can  be  attributed  to 
nothing  but  a  sincere  desire  to  serve  the  interests  of 
religion  and  to  save  the  French  church.  How 
their  decision  has  been  treated  we  all  know.  The 
pope  has  passed  over  those  who  are  responsible 
for  the  government  of  the  church  in  France,  and 
who  know  better  than  any  others  what  the  real 
situation  is,  and  has  taken  the  advice  of  Germans, 
Spaniards,  monks,  and  Jesuits  concerned  only  for 


100  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

the  selfish  interests  of  their  particular  orders, 
French  royalists,  and  clericals  with  whom  hatred 
of  the  republic  is  a  far  stronger  motive  than  love 
of  religion.  And,  with  incredible  meanness,  the 
reply  of  the  bishops  to  the  first  question  put  to 
them  has  been  used  in  the  encyclical  Gravissimo 
Officii  in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest  to  the  reader 
that  the  bishops  approved  of  and  were  responsible 
for  the  papal  policy.  It  is  true  that  the  phrase 
in  the  encyclical,  '  We  see  that  we  ought  to  con- 
firm fully  by  our  apostolic  authority  the  almost 
unanimous  decision  of  your  assembly,'  need  not 
necessarily  refer  to  more  than  the  pope's  repudia- 
tion of  the  '  religious  associations  as  the  law  estab- 
lishes them  '  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  would 
more  naturally  be  taken  as  applying  to  the  whole 
papal  policy,  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  nearly 
the  whole  of  the  press,  including  the  Catholic 
papers,  did  so  understand  it,  and  it  was  actually 
quoted  by  the  Tablet  and  other  Catholic  organs 
as  a  proof  that  the  French  bishops  agreed  with  the 
pope.  But  for  the  timely  revelations  of  the  Temps 
and  the  Steele,  the  truth  would  probably  never  have 
been  known,  and  the  French  bishops  would  have 
been  held  responsible  for  the  results  of  a  policy 
which,  in  fact,  they  did  their  utmost  to  avert. 

"  It  was  only  to  be  expected  that,  at  their 
second  assembly  in  August,  the  bishops  would  be 
unable  to  come  to  any  practical  decision.  With- 
out disobeying  the  pope,  there  was  nothing  that 
they  could  do.  The  pope  has  ordered  them  '  to 
organize    religious    worship,'    but    has    forbidden 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  101 

them  all  legal  means  of  organizing  it.  It  is,  of 
course,  to  be  regretted  that  they  have  hesitated 
'  to  serve  Christ  for  fear  of  Peter  '  ;  that  they 
have  not  had  the  courage  to  resist  a  policy  which 
they  know  to  be  fatal  to  religion  or,  at  least,  to 
resign  their  sees  rather  than  accept  any  responsibil- 
ity for  it;  that  they  have  issued,  or  allowed  to  be 
issued  in  their  name,  a  collective  pastoral  letter  in 
which  they  stultify  themselves  and  make  statements 
which  the  whole  world  knows  to  be  insincere  and 
inconsistent  with  their  former  decision,  and  even 
with  the  public  declarations  of  many  among  them. 
It  is  a  miserable  lachete;  but  when  men  in  the 
position  of  M.  Brunetiere  have  not  the  courage  of 
their  convictions,  what  can  we  expect  of  eccle- 
siastics who  have  been  trained  from  the  age  of 
twelve  to  regard  personal  initiative  as  the  greatest 
sin  and  abject  submission  as  the  highest  virtue  ? 
'  To  those  who  know  the  appalling  extent  to 
which  the  church  has  lost  its  hold  on  the  French 
people,  who  are  aware  that  over  large  districts  of 
France  the  practice  of  religion  has  almost  entirely 
ceased,  and  that,  where  it  continues,  it  is  to  a  large 
extent  merely  an  external  form,  the  immediate 
future  of  French  Catholicism  seems  dark  indeed. 
I  wish  I  could  believe  that  any  considerable  body 
of  French  Catholics  were  prepared  to  save  the 
religion  of  France  even  without  the  consent  of  the 
pope,  but  I  cannot  be  so  optimistic.  It  is  most 
improbable  that  associations  of  Catholics  will  be 
formed  in  more  than  a  very  few  places  unless  the 
pope  relents." 


102  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

These    two   articles,     ;  The  Papal   Attack   on 
France,"  and  "  The  Papal  Aggression  in  France 
and  its  Significance  for  other  Nations,"  by  Robert 
Dell,  are  of  great  interest  and  signal  importance  to 
the  present  and   coming   generation   both   in  our 
country    and    abroad    as    well.       It    is    regretted 
time  and  space  admit  but  a  brief  compilation  of 
these  papers.     They  should  be  published  in  full, 
and  sent  all  over  the  country,  to  Catholics  and 
Protestants  alike.     But  for  the  revelations  of  the 
Temps  and  the  Siecle  newspapers,  the  truth  would 
probably  never  have  been  known,  and  the  French 
bishops  held   responsible   for  results   of  a  policy 
they  did  their  utmost  to  avert.     Owing  to  mis- 
statements by  interested  and  misguided  individuals, 
the   American   public   has  been  misinformed  and 
intentionally  misled,  as  a  careful  perusal  of  these 
papers  clearly  indicates.     Mr.  Dell  is  widely  known 
both   here   and   abroad   as   a   gentleman   of  high 
character   and    standing,  and    the   people  of   the 
United   States   are   very   fortunate   in   having  the 
Catholic  status  in  France  presented  in  so  plain, 
frank,    and    intelligent    a    manner.     Few    people 
know  the  subterranean,   herculean  efforts  of  the 
church  to  prevent  facts  given  by  Mr.  Dell  ever 
reaching  the  public  through  the  press.     They  are 
too  damaging;     they  don't  fit  in  with  the  God- 
given  power  and  authority  claimed  for  a  plain,  un- 
pretentious gentleman  in  Rome,  whom  some  people 
care  to  call  a  pope,  and  declare  infallible,  etc. 

These  papers  will  aid  our  people  in  obtaining 
(what  is  so  well  known  in  France)  a  clearer  knowl- 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  103 

edge  of  bishops  and  priests,  and  their  real  position 
in  the  nation.  The  author  is  under  obligations  for 
permission  to  again  bring  them  to  the  attention  of 
the  people  both!  here  and  abroad,  in  England  in 
particular. 

;  Why,  then,  has  the  pope  refused  the  request 
of  nearly  two  thirds  of  the  French  bishops  to  be 
allowed  to  form  associations  cultuelles  on  the 
Archbishop  of  Besancon's  model  ?  His  refusal  is 
not  due  to  the  provisions  of  the  Separation  Law,  but, 
as  already  stated,  it  is  an  application  of  rigid  and 
absolute  principles,  and  an  attack  on  the  autonomy 
of  the  state  to  which  the  "  crazy  doctrinaires 
and  mountebank  statesmen  "  referred  to  (who  have 
not  as  yet  disappeared  as  negligible  quantities)  most 
seriously  object,  in  the  name  of  the  republic  of 
France,  and  have  enforced  the  objection  in  a 
manner  not  easily  misunderstood  by  those  having 
interests  involved. 

"  In  France,  the  Catholics  pleaded  with  Rome  to 
be  allowed  to  obey  the  civil  laws  of  the  government, 
but  the  pope  refused  his  consent  for  reasons  already 
stated,  and  few  Catholics  dare  oppose  this  dictum. 
What  reason  have  we  to  suppose  he  will  not  at- 
tempt the  exercise  of  this  same  tyrannical  authority, 
if  ever  the  Catholic  vote  in  this  country  should  make 
it  possible  ? 

"  The  reader  will  see  from  the  following  news- 
paper  clipping  that  the  present  issue  is  simply 
whether  a  foreign  monarch  shall  reign  over  France 
equally  with  its  republican  government;  also  that 
the  Encyclical  Gravissimo  of  August  10, 1906,  was 


104  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

'  a  deliberate  and   studied   equivocation  '  on   the 
part  of  Rome." 

THE  VIEW  OF  CARDINAL  GIBBONS 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Sun  —  Sir:  Without  being  a 
Catholic,  and  at  the  same  time  being  no  enemy  of  that  church, 
I  am  convinced  by  careful  study  of  the  separation  of  church 
and  state  in  France  from  the  beginning  of  the  agitation  that 
Cardinal  Gibbons  is  mistaken  in  his  theory,  set  forth  in  the 
Sun  of  December  14,  that  the  French  government  is  raging 
against  religion.  The  new  law  doesn't  touch  dogma  at  all. 
The  cardinal  may  naturally  regard  recognition  of  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  pope  as  religious  dogma,  but  there  are  millions 
of  devout  and  theologically  orthodox  people  in  France  who 
do  not  so  believe.  They  regard  the  present  issue  as  simply 
whether  a  foreign  monarch  shall  reign  over  France  equally 
with  its  republican  government.  .  .   . 

Does  Cardinal  Gibbons  imagine  —  does  any  sensible 
Catholic  imagine  —  that  the  status  quo  resulting  from 
Bonaparte's  Concordat  can  ever  be  restored  ?  If  papal 
armies  could  deluge  France  with  blood  and  win  victories, 
would  that  make  Pius  X  a  fount  of  living  waters  and  animate 
the  French  people  with  love  for  the  Roman  Church  ? 

C. 
New  York,  December  15. 

The  dominant  fact  in  the  whole  separation  crisis  was  that 
the  seventy-four  French  bishops,  having  met  together  in 
plenary  assembly  on  May  30,  June  1,  1906,  decided  by  forty- 
eight  votes  against  twenty-six,  in  secret  ballot,  that  there  was 
reason  to  seek  for  a  modus  vivendi  which  would  allow  of  the 
formation  of  associations  at  once  legal  and  canonical.  Subse- 
quently, by  fifty-six  votes  against  eighteen,  they  accepted  the 
scheme  of  Mgr.  Fulbert-Petit,  Archbishop  of  Besancon, 
which  allowed  submission  to  the  law.     It  is  well  known  that 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  105 

of  this  resolution  Pope  Pius  X  took  no  account  whatever. 
M.  Sabatier  asserts  squarely  that  the  wording  of  the  subse- 
quent Encyclical  Gravissimo  of  August  10,  1906,  was  a  de- 
liberate and  studied  equivocation.  "  It  did  not  state  the 
reverse  of  the  truth,  but  it  gave  it  to  be  understood.  Indeed, 
all  those  who  know  the  facts  only  through  this  document  are 
persuaded  that  the  French  episcopate  not  merely  submitted 
to  the  theoretical  condemnation  of  the  Law  of  Separation, 
which  had  already  been  pronounced  by  the  pope,  but  begged 
for  a  final  condemnation  of  it.  This  is  precisely  the  reverse 
of  the  truth."  The  author  considers  that  what  he  regards 
as  the  disingenuous  and  high  handed  attitude  of  the  Vatican 
was  a  fact  much  more  important  than  the  passing  of  the  Law 
of  Separation. 

In  the  face  of  all  this  the  following  newspaper 
clipping  shows  how  inaccurate  some  people  are  in 
their  statements.  The  American  people  have  had 
things  put  squarely  before  them,  and,  unfortunately, 
the  ignorant  masses  don't  know  it. 

Baltimore,  December  13.  "  The  American  public  does 
not  understand  the  present  crisis  in  France,"  said  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  when  asked  this  evening  for  his  opinion  on  the 
French  situation.  He  continued :  "lam  getting  to  be  an  old 
man,  now,  and  I  think  I  know  my  countrymen.  They  love 
fair  play;  they  love  liberty;  they  love  to  see  humane  dealings, 
man  with  man.  And  the  late  years  have  shown  how  cordially 
they  hate  injustice,  tyranny,  and  inhumanity.  And  yet 
France  has  treated  her  noblest  citizens  with  injustice  and  in- 
humanity, and  America,  which  has  sympathy  for  the  op- 
pressed of  all  nations,  has  raised  no  protest,  nor  uttered  a 
word  of  sympathy. 

"  If  I  believe  that  my  countrymen  would  knowingly  see 
a  great  and  beneficent  organization  unjustly  deprived  of  its 


106  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

property  and  the  means  of  continued  usefulness,  would 
knowingly  see  tens  of  thousands  of  honest  men  and  noble 
women  robbed  of  their  just  income  and  means  of  support, 
would  knowingly  see  hundreds  of  thousands  and  even  several 
millions  of  people  brutally  wounded  in  what  they  hold  dearest 
and  most  sacred,  would  knowingly  see  a  majority  in  the 
chambers  utterly  disregard  and  trample  upon  the  rights  of 
the  minority  and  the  rights  of  millions  of  their  countrymen,  in 
the  name  of  liberty,  would  knowingly  see  tens  of  thousands 
of  men  and  women  who  happen  to  be  priests  and  nuns  turned 
out  of  their  homes  for  no  crime,  but  that  of  loving  God  and 
serving  their  neighbors  —  I  say  if  my  countrymen  can  see  and 
recognize  all  this  injustice  and  tyranny  and  cruelty,  and  refuse 
genuine  sympathy  to  those  who  suffer  by  them  because  of 
their  religious  belief,  then  I  will  leave  life  without  that  faith  in 
American  love  of  justice  and  liberty  and  humanity  which  has 
been  my  comfort  and  support  and  hope  during  a  long  career. 
"  But  the  American  people  have  not  had  the  things  put 
squarely  before  them.  Our  own  press  has  been  to  a  consid- 
erable extent  the  reflection  of  the  Parisian  anti-clerical  press. 
Americans  have  little  conception  of  the  French  anti-clericals. 
They  look  upon  the  leaders  of  this  party  as  enlightened  states- 
men, seeking  to  preserve  the  republic  from  the  attacks  of  an 
aggressive  clergy.  There  have  been  honest  and  sincere  lovers 
of  republican  government  among  anti-clericals,  I  admit. 
But  the  majority  of  them  have  far  less  love  of  the  republic 
than  they  have  hatred  of  religion.  I  am  weighing  my  words 
and  I  ask,  and  I  say  with  the  most  deliberate  conviction  that 
the  leaders  of  the  French  government  are  actuated  by  nothing 
less  than  hatred  of  religion.  We  have  no  spirit  akin  to  theirs 
in  this  country.  We  have  here  much  indifference  to  religion, 
but  we  have  no  body  of  men,  no  great  party  that  makes  it  a 
chief  aim  to  weaken  the  power  of  religion  and,  if  possible, 
utterly  to  destroy  it  out  of  the  land. 


The  Papal  Attack  on  France  107 

Paris,  September  28.  The  Gaulois  to-day  prints  an 
interview  which  its  correspondent  at  Rome  had  with  the  pope 
yesterday  on  the  church  and  state  separation,  during  which  the 
pontiff  is  quoted  as  saying: 

"  It  is  not  I  who  condemn  the  law,  but  Christ,  of  whom 
the  pope  is  simply  the  vicar.  The  Saviour  granted  the  church 
a  constitution  and  a  doctrine,  against  which  no  human  law 
can  prevail.  The  separation  law  is  contrary  to  Catholic 
doctrines  and  opposed  to  divine  rulings,  is  an  unjust  law,  and, 
therefore,  carries  no  obligations  to  obey." 

Suppose  in  future  the  pope  declares  a  law  of 
the  United  States  to  be  unjust  and  carries  no  obli- 
gation to  obey,  is  there  any  question  that,  like  the 
bishops  of  France,  the  bishops  of  this  country 
would  obey  the  pope  ? 

This  attack  on  the  autonomy  of  the  state  is  well 
understood  by  those  who  have  carefully  followed 
the  double  dealing  and  hypocrisy  of  the  managers 
(Curia)  at  Rome.  And  now  that  the  duplicity  of 
Rome  is  laid  bare,  and  the  incorrect  and  misleading 
statements  of  the  protesting  Catholics  (received 
with  great  applause  and  enthusiasm)  are  exposed, 
it  may  not  be  improper  for  the  "  high  authority  ' 
who  directed  copy  of  the  Resolutions,  etc.,  to  the 
pope,  to  be  read  in  every  Catholic  church  in  New 
York,  to  inform  his  parishioners  of  the  unfortunate 
mistake  he  made,  before  the  majority  of  his  fellow- 
men  shall  have  discovered  the  deception,  that 
truth  is  more  to  be  prized  than  earthly  power  and 
public  aggrandizement. 


FRANCE    AND    THE    SEPARATION    LAW 
AND  THE  PROTESTING  BROOK- 
LYN CATHOLICS 

IT  is  said  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  population  of 
France  are  Roman  Catholics.  This  comes 
through  getting  control  of  the  women,  of  the 
female  children  when  young,  and  instilling  in 
their  minds  Roman  Catholic  dogmas  to  take  pre- 
cedence of  all  other  teachings.  As  they  grow  up, 
through  the  confessional  and  catechism  they  are 
absolutely  under  the  control  of  the  priests,  and 
when  mothers  of  families,  they  in  turn  are  taught 
to  insist  on  their  children  being  brought  up  in  the 
same  faith.  For  centuries  these  people  have  been 
held  in  mental  bondage,  have  attended  worship  in 
stately  cathedrals,  seen  the  burning  candles,  lis- 
tened to  the  inspiring  music,  enjoyed  the  odor  of 
frankincense,  admired  the  paintings  and  vestments, 
obeyed  implicitly  orders  from  their  religious  supe- 
riors, put  their  money  in  the  box,  with  the  assurance 
that  their  sins  are  forgiven  and  their  future  secured, 
made  in  the  first  place  by  ignorant  and  designing. 
Men  in  Rome,  who  for  centuries  have  used 
the  pope,  a  creature  of  their  own  making  and  a 
prisoner  in  the  Vatican,  to  wring  from  the  ignorant 
masses  of  this  and  other  nations  enormous  sums  of 
money  under  the  cloak  of  religion.     The  history  of 

108 


Protesting  Brooklyn  Catholics  109 

the  Roman  Catholic  organization,  its  methods  and 
practices,  are  but  little  known  and  understood  by 
the  average  American,  but  thoroughly  understood 
in  foreign  countries,  where  for  centuries  liberty  of 
thought  and  conscience  have  been  smothered 
through  priestly  domination.  The  recent  attempt 
by  Spanish  and  Jesuit  influences  to  embroil  France 
in  a  civil  war,  and  the  powers  behind  the  throne  at 
Rome  in  their  attempted  defiance  of  the  civil  laws 
and  government  autonomy,  have  both  most  signally 
failed.  The  abolition  of  the  Concordat  and  the 
separation  of  church  and  state  have  been  accom- 
plished without  any  of  the  violent  social  upheavals 
which  were  predicted  by  the  clericals.  The  pope 
would  have  done  much  better  to  have  spared  France 
his  insults.  Having  raised  himself  above  all  laws, 
and  his  tyranny  having  become  insupportable,  the 
nation  decreed  that  he  no  longer  be  allowed  to 
assert  his  right  to  the  sole  allegiance  of  states  and 
individuals. 

You  now  find  yourselves  face  to  face  with  the 
claim  of  a  foreign  potentate  (of  narrow  seminary 
training,  who  knows  little  or  nothing  of  any  country 
but  his  own)  that  his  authority  is  unlimited,  that  he 
can  at  will  set  aside  laws  regularly  made  by  the  con- 
stituted lawmaking  authority,  and  that  if  he  annuls 
them  or  sets  them  aside  you  are  bound  to  disobey 
them ;  that  he  has  a  divine  and  immutable  right  to 
ratify  or  refuse  to  ratify  civil  legislation;  and  that 
you  are  bound  to  disobey  the  civil  government  and 
revolt  against  the  laws  if  the  pope  orders  you  to 
do  so. 


110  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

It  is  denied  the  pope  or  Church  of  Rome  has 
any  right,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  any  civil,  spirit- 
ual, or  temporal  jurisdiction,  power,  pre-eminence, 
or  authority  in  the  United  States.  The  public 
demonstration  in  England  last  year  only  goes  to 
show  "  that  official  representatives  of  Catholicism 
in  England  hold  themselves  bound  to  disobey  the 
civil  government  of  that  realm,  and  to  revolt  against 
the  laws,  if  the  pope  orders  them  to  do  so.  What 
is  true  of  England  is  true  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
of  every  country.  The  supremacy  of  the  church 
over  the  state  is  an  inviolable  principle  to  be  en- 
forced at  all  costs."  It  is  not  in  defense  of  religious 
liberty  the  pope  is  attacking  the  French  republic, 
but  because  the  republic  has  placed  all  religious 
bodies  alike  under  a  regime  of  religious  liberty, 
equality,  and  toleration,  and  this  he  calls  the  law  of 
oppression.  Rome  puts  up  with  religious  equality 
and  toleration  in  a  Protestant  country  so  long  as  she 
is  not  strong  enough  to  claim  and  enforce  anything 
more.  In  the  final  miserable  attempt  of  the  Vatican 
to  throw  on  the  French  bishops  the  responsibility 
of  its  own  policy,  they  (the  bishops)  declined  to 
walk  into  the  trap  that  had  been  laid  for  them,  and 
but  for  the  timely  revelations  of  the  Temps  and  the 
Siecle,  the  truth  would  probably  never  have  been 
known,  and  the  French  bishops  would  have  been 
held  responsible  for  the  results  of  a  policy  which, 
in  fact,  they  did  their  utmost  to  avert. 

Let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  a  New  York  news- 
paper account  of  eight  thousand,  more  or  less, 
protesting  Catholics,  who  gathered  in  Brooklyn  to 


Protesting  Brooklyn  Catholics  111 

denounce  the  French  republic,  February  3,  1907. 
The  first  speaker  said,  "  Poor  old  France,  we  come 
to  chide  you  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger.  .  .  . 
France,  to-day,  seems  determined  to  hunt  Christ 
out  of  the  state  altogether.  It  is  to  protest  against 
this  that  we  are  here  to-night."  A  more  careful 
reading  of  the  Encyclical  Gravissimo,  the  "  Asso- 
ciations Law  "  of  1901,  and  "  Separation  Law  "  of 
1905  will  enable  the  speaker  to  readily  understand 
that  France  is  not  on  any  hunting  expedition  after 
Christ,  but  simply  has  served  notice  on  Rome,  who 
claims  to  represent  some  God,  and  whose  edicts 
in  the  past  have  been  law,  that  it  will  no  longer, 
under  religious  or  other  pretext,  suffer  or  allow 
any  further  meddling  or  interference  in  any  manner 
with  its  people  or  government  by  any  foreign 
power,  ecclesiastical  or  otherwise.  The  next 
speaker  is  reported  to  have  said:  "  The  right  of 
man  to  worship  God  as  he  pleases  is  dearer  even 
than  life  itself.  The  action  of  the  French  govern- 
ment is  an  outrage  against  all  humanity,  by  a  set 
of  men  temporarily  in  power  through  the  vagaries 
of  politics.  They  assume  to  dictate  on  questions  of 
conscience  to  their  fellowmen.  These  puny, 
miserable,  and  sometimes  diseased  intellects  have 
sought  to  select  the  bishops  and  priests  of  the 
Catholic  Church  to  administer  to  human  conscience 
in  time  of  need.  It  was  the  great  Justice  Story  who 
said  that  the  rights  of  conscience  are  beyond  the 
just  reach  of  human  power,  that  they  were  God- 
given.  That  is  good  American  doctrine,  whether 
you  spring  from  Quaker,  Pilgrim,  Jew,  or  Gentile. 


112  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

You  must  agree  with  us  that  the  right  of  govern- 
ment to  interfere  between  a  man  and  his  God  is 
inhuman  and  impossible." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  the  speaker  should  see  fit 
to  use  such  language  as  the  above,  on  a  subject  he 
plainly  shows  he  has^something  to  learn,  and  in 
disrespect  to  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
many  of  whom  are  Catholics.  True,  these  "puny," 
"  miserable,"  and  sometimes  '  diseased  '  intel- 
lects have  decided  to  no  longer,  as  a  matter 
of  courtesy,  submit  to  the  Curia  the  names  of 
bishops  for  appointment,  but  have  decided  that 
hereafter  they  will  make  their  own  selection  of 
men  whom  they  can  trust,  and  who  will  not  intrigue 
to  overthrow  a  republican  form  of  government,  as 
in  the  past.  The  speaker  says  further,  '  The 
rights  of  conscience  are  beyond  the  just  reach  of 
human  power,  that  they  were  God-given,"  '  that 
it  is  good  American  doctrine,"  "that  we  must  agree 
with  him  that  the  right  of  government  to  interfere 
between  a  man  and  his  God  is  inhuman  and  im- 
possible." This  is  good  American  doctrine.  Why, 
then,  allow  popes  and  priests  to  interfere  with 
liberty  of  conscience  and  his  God,  if  beyond  the 
just  reach  of  human  power  ?  It  is  only  after  the 
intriguing  and  tyranny  of  some  religious  order  be- 
comes insufferable  that  governments  are  some- 
times obliged  to  assert  their  authority,  as  was 
recently  the  case  in  France.  You  say,  "  The  right 
of  government  to  interfere  between  man  and  his 
God  is  inhuman  and  impossible."  It  makes  all 
the  difference  who  and  what  the  God  is,  and  what 


Protesting  Brooklyn  Catholics  113 

use  you  are  making  of  it,  whether  the  government 
under  which  you  live  supports  you  in  your  con- 
tention, especially  when  your  pope  claims  he  is  the 
only  chief  divine  representative  of  the  only  God 
anybody  has  any  right  to  worship,  your  religious 
superior,  and  under  whose  control  you  are,  if  you 
are  a  good  Catholic;  and  when  you  stand  on  a 
public  platform  and  undertake  to  defend  the 
action  of  your  religious  superiors  in  their  attempt 
to  subvert  the  French  government,  to  throttle  public 
opinion  for  their  own  selfish  deeds,  a  knowledge  of 
the  law  and  accuracy  of  statement  is  hoped  for, 
especially  from  those  occupying  high  official  posi- 
tions  when  they  descant  on  matters  religious. 

But  to  return  to  the  meeting  of  the  protesting 
Catholics.  The  next  speaker  is  reported  to  have 
said: 

We  Americans  feel  that  with  the  abolition  of  the  Concor- 
dat a  millstone  has  been  taken  from  the  necks  of  French  Catho- 
lics [Applause.]  But  the  separation  law  is  not  a  separation 
law  at  all,  but  a  carefully  devised  mockery  [applause]  not  set 
up  to  create  a  free  church,  but  to  undermine,  wreck,  and 
sweep  away  the  Catholic  Church.  [Applause  and  cries  of 
"  That's  true!  Right!  "]  It  is  a  crazy,  diabolical  attempt  to 
enslave  the  church  instead  of  making  it  free.  The  law  is 
aimed  directly  at  all  the  works  of  mercy  and  education  so 
beautiful  in  the  Catholic  Church  of  France.  [Applause  and 
cheering.]  It  is  devised  to  destroy  the  fundamental  institu- 
tions of  the  Catholic  Church  in  a  country  where  90  per  cent 
of  the  people  are  Catholics. 

The  French  government  has  entered  into  this  controversy 
as  lightly  as  Napoleon  entered  into  the  Franco-Prussian  War, 
and,  unless  it  retreats  promptly,  the  result  will  be  a  disaster 


114  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

to  the  republic  more  complete  than  that  which  attended  the 
victory  to  the  German  arms. 

That  great  Brandenburger,  Bismarck,  flushed  with  his 
victory  over  France,  endeavored  to  wreck  the  church  in 
Germany,  but  even  Bismarck  had  to  pass  on  his  way  to  a 
metaphorical  Canossa.  [Applause  and  cheers.]  The  present 
ruler  of  Germany  told  the  people  that  he  would  not  govern 
with  the  aid  of  the  Center  and  appealed  to  the  people.  What 
was  the  result  ?  He  will  govern  with  the  aid  of  the  Centre  or 
he  will  not  govern  at  all.     [Applause.] 

The  church  in  France  is  fighting,  not  for  an  ancient  privi- 
lege, but  for  the  bare  right  to  live.  The  French  government 
is  setting  up  a  condition  by  which  the  Catholic  bishop  may  not 
direct  a  pastor  and  a  pastor  may  be  tin-own  out  of  his  parish 
at  the  mere  whim  of  a  layman  who  may  not  even  be  a  Catho- 
lic. Under  the  French  separation  law  a  band  of  free  thinkers 
might  oust  the  loyal  Catholics  from  the  Cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame  and  enthrone  a  light  woman  on  its  high  altar.  There 
is  time  yet  to  undo  the  great  wrong  and  place  the  whole 
matter  on  a  basis  of  justice  and  equality.  I  do  not  despair 
of  France.  If  I  did  I  should  dread  to  think  confidently  of  my 
own  country. 

If  this  present  crisis  may  lead  the  great  French  people  to 
shake  off  their  lethargy,  to  forget  their  divisions  as  Orleanists 
and  Imperialists,  or  what  not,  and  to  remember  that  they  are 
free  men  and  Catholics,  then  the  crazy  doctrinaires  and 
mountebank  statesmen  who  have  thrust  themselves  to  the 
front  at  this  time  will  disappear  as  negligible  quantities.  It 
may  be  that  some  strong  stimulus,  some  outrageous  provoca- 
tion, may  be  necessary  before  this  awakening  comes:  but 
come  it  will.  So  to-night  we  say  to  the  bishops  and  laity  of 
France,  "  God  be  with  you.     Stand  firm."     [Applause.] 

"  Separation  Law  a  carefully  devised  mockery 
to  wreck  and  sweep  away  the  Catholic  Church  ? 


Protesting  Brooklyn  Catholics  115 

A  crazy,  diabolical  attempt  to  enslave  the  church, 
aimed  directly  at  all  works  of  mercy  and  education 
and  devised  to  destroy  the  fundamental  institutions 
of  the  church  in  France  ?  '  These  incorrect,  ill- 
advised  declarations  have  already  been  met,  and 
are  unworthy  of  notice.  The  speaker  then  further 
said,  "  The  present  ruler  of  Germany  will  govern 
with  the  aid  of  the  Center  (Catholics),  or  he  will  not 
govern  at  all,"  meaning  the  Catholics  vote  as  a 
unit  in  the  Reichstag,  and  hold  the  balance  of  power. 
It  is  true  they  sold  their  votes  to  the  emperor  for 
money  to  build  warships.  These  bribes  consisted 
in  bartering;  for  return  of  certain  rights  of  which 
they  had  been  deprived  by  Bismarck  (the  return 
of  the  Jesuits  among  others),  in  the  interest  of  the 
German  nation.  The  speaker  further  says:  "  The 
government  is  setting  up  a  condition  by  which  a 
Catholic  bishop  may  not  direct  a  pastor,  and  a 
pastor  may  be  t  irown  out  of  his  parish  at  the  mere 
whim  of  a  layman  who  may  not  even  be  a  Catholic. 
Under  the  French  Separation  Law  a  band  of  free 
thinkers  might  oust  the  loyal  Catholics  from  the 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame,  and  enthrone  a  light 
woman  on  its  altar."  The  gentleman  is  mistaken, 
and,  says  Mr.  Dell,  in  his  paper  on  "  The  Papal 
Aggression  in  France,"  :  The  above  statements 
are  typical  of  the  largest  class  of  mistakes  about 
the  Separation  Law,  and  misunderstanding  of 
the  system  of  Associations  Cultuelles;  since  the 
Associations  Law  of  July  1,  1901,  associations 
other  than  religious  orders  have  required  no  author- 
ization from  the  state,  or  any  public  authority. 


116  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

But  before  an  association  can  acquire  real  prop- 
erty and  a  corporate  personality  it  must  make  a 
declaration  in  a  form  provided  by  law,  and  if  the 
authorities  consider  that  its  objects  are  illegal  they 
must  proceed  in  a  court  of  law  to  obtain  its  sup- 
pression. The  Separation  Law  but  follows  the 
general  law  of  France  in  requiring  the  various 
religious  bodies  to  form  associations  for  the  pur- 
pose of  holding  the  ecclesiastical  property.  The 
Association  Cultuclle  is  merely  an  association 
declaree,  under  the  law  of  the  July  1,  1901,  which 
has  for  its  sole  object  the  practice  of  religion 
(V exercise  d'un  culture),  formed  by  seven,  fifteen, 
or  twenty-five  persons,  according  to  the  population 
of  the  commune.  It  must  present  its  accounts  to  a 
general  meeting  of  members  once  a  year.  They 
are  given  complete  liberty  to  organize  in  accord- 
ance with  the  wishes  of  the  members  or  with  the 
principles  and  rules  of  the  religious  body  to  which 
they  belong.  It  will  be  seen  how  entirely  baseless 
are  the  statements  which  certain  Catholic  journals 
have  made  on  this  matter.  The  Separation  Law 
applies  to  all  religious  bodies  alike,  and  so  it  cannot 
"  recognize  "  the  authority  of  the  bishops  over 
Associations  Cultuelles,  but  it  allows  the  bishops 
to  exercise  as  much  authority  as  they  please  over 
the  Catholic  Associations  Cultuelles,  making 
constitutions  and  rules  which  will  safeguard  epis- 
copal authority,  as  is  shown  by  the  constitutions 
drawn  up  by  the  Archbishop  of  Besancon,  and 
adopted  by  the  French  bishops  at  their  assembly 
in  May.     The  pope  himself  has  described  them 


Protesting  Brooklyn  Catholics  117 

in  his  encyclical  as  "  at  once  legal  and  canonical." 
The  proposed  constitutions  of  an  Association 
Cultuelle  formally  subject  the  association  to  the 
authority  of  the  pope  and  the  bishop  of  the  diocese, 
and  require  of  all  the  members  a  formal  profession 
of  faith  and  submission  to  the  authority  of  the  pope 
and  the  church;  that  they  will  abstain  from  joining 
any  secret  society  condemned  by  the  Roman 
Church,  and  obey  the  laws  as  regards  baptism,  first 
communion,  education  of  their  children,  marriage 
of  themselves  and  children,  and  religious  burial; 
that  they  will  conform  to  the  rules  of  the  asso- 
ciation; and  that  they  must  be  elected  by  the  execu- 
tive committee  on  the  nomination  of  two  members. 
The  parish  priest  is  an  ex-officio  member.  Any  one 
who  remains  a  month  under  ecclesiastical  censure 
ceases  to  be  a  member  of  the  association.  This 
provision  enables  the  bishop  in  practice  to  expel 
any  member  (subject  to  an  appeal  to  Rome)  and 
would  make  it  impossible  for  the  Association  to  be 
captured  by  heretics  or  schismatics,  so  an  Associa- 
tion Cidtuelle  is  far  more  under  the  control  of  the 
bishop  than  is  the  Conseil  de  fabrique.  It  has 
been  contended  that  the  Separation  Law  encour- 
ages schism,  and  does  not  secure  the  cathedral  and 
parish  churches  to  the  orthodox  Catholics:  those 
who  make  such  assertions  haven't  taken  the  trouble 
to  read  the  text  of  the  law.  Clauses  IV,  VIII,  and 
XIII  make  it  impossible  for  the  cathedrals, 
churches,  and  other  ecclesiastical  property  to  be 
assigned  to  any  but  a  Catholic  Association  Cul- 
tuelle,  just   as   they   require   that   the  Protestant 


118  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

temples  and  Jewish  synagogues  shall  be  assigned 
only  to  those  associations  which  represent  their 
present  holders.  An  appeal  to  the  Cotiseil  d'Etat 
is  only  possible  when  the  parish  church  is  claimed 
by  two  or  more  associations  formed  for  the  practice 
of  the  same  religion,  and  the  question  which  the 
Conseil  d  Etat  has  to  decide  is  one  of  fact  precisely 
similar  to  that  which  the  English  law  courts  fre- 
quently have  to  decide  in  regard  to  property  held 
in  trust  for  religious  purposes.  The  Conseil 
d  Etat  must  assign  the  church  and  other  property 
to  that  association  which  is  proved  to  have  com- 
plied with  the  "  general  rules  of  organization  of  the 
religion  of  which  "  the  contending  associations 
propose  to  insure  the  practice.  One  of  the  most 
important  rules  in  the  case  of  the  Catholic  Church 
is  the  necessity  of  being  in  communion  with  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese,  and  that  is  the  first  con- 
sideration, as  M.  Brand  has  repeatedly  stated, 
which  the  Conseil  d'Etat  will  have  to  take  into 
account  in  deciding  between  rival  associations 
claiming  to  be  Catholic.  In  other  words,  the 
association  in  communion  with  the  bishop  would 
always  be  able  to  secure  the  parish  church  even 
though  the  large  majority  of  the  Catholics  in  the 
parish,  and  the  parish  priest  himself  belonged  to 
the  Schismatic  Association.  The  provisions  of 
Clause  VIII  further  secure  that  in  the  event 
of  an  association  becoming  Schismatic,  the  parish 
priest,  or  (if  the  parish  priest  himself  were  schis- 
matic) the  bishop,  could  form  an  Orthodox  Asso- 
ciation, and  by  an  appeal  to  the  Conseil  d'Etat, 


Protesting  Brooklyn  Catholics  119 

secure  the  parish  church  and  its  property.  .  .  . 
Could  anything  be  more  just  and  equitable  to  the 
church  than  the  above  mentioned  legislation? 
And  yet  the  Protesting  Catholics  of  Brooklyn  con- 
sider this  action  of  the  French  government  "  an 
outrage  against  all  humanity  by  a  set  of  men  tem- 
porarily in  power  through  the  vagaries  of  politics." 
It  looks  more  like  an  instance  of  ' '  the  rulers  of  a 
religious  organization  coming  in  conflict  with  the 
laws  of  a  sovereign  state,"  in  which  conflict  the 
state  prevailed. 

"  Having  overthrown  the  powers  of  Rome  in  its 
attempt  to  subvert  the  government,  France,  after 
centuries  of  trial  of  parochial  schools  and  doctrinal 
teachings  and  priestly  domination,  turns  from  the 
same  with  disgust,  and  takes  the  education  of  the 
children  into  her  own  hands,  and  gives  all  her  citi- 
zens civil  and  religious  liberty  never  before  ac- 
corded. In  the  face  of  all  this  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  has  so  misrepresented  the  truth  of  the  action 
of  the  French  government  that  Americans  do  not 
realize  that  this  means  the  total  annihilation  of 
popery  in  France;  which  fact,  in  this  country, 
where  the  representatives  are  growing  bolder  and 
more  aggressive,  it  is  not  desirable  the  people  should 
know,  nor  should  they  see  the  real  weakness  of 
Rome,  when  the  people  of  France  speak." 


MISSTATEMENTS  AND  UNRELIABILITY 
OF    WRITINGS    ASCRIBED     TO    THE 
APOSTLES  MATTHEW,  MARK,  LUKE, 
AND  JOHN,  TOGETHER  WITH  RE- 
VIEW OF  "AGE  OF  REASON," 
BY  THOMAS  PAINE 

THE  cornerstone  and  structure  of  what  is 
known  as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
stands  or  falls  first  on  the  proof  of  truth 
and  authenticity  of  writings  in  the  New 
Testament  ascribed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John;  and  second,  on  the  record  and  practices  of 
popes,  cardinals,  bishops,  and  priests  during  the 
past  fifteen  centuries.  The  passages  favoring  the 
Episcopal  or  Gallican  theory  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment are  John  xiv.  16  sq.,  xvi.  13-16,  where  Christ 
promises  the  Holy  Ghost  to  his  disciples  that  he 
may  abide  with  them  forever,  bring  to  their  remem- 
brance all  that  he  had  said  to  them,  and  guide  them 
into  the  whole  truth.  John  xx.  21,  "  As  my 
Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you  ";  Matt, 
xviii.  18,  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on  earth  shall 
be  bound  in  heaven,"  etc.;  Matt,  xxviii.  19-20, 
"  Go,  and  discipline  all  the  nations.  .  .  and  lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world." 

The  passages  favoring    the  papal  theory  are 
three:  Matt.  xvi.  18,  19 :    "  And  I  say  also  unto  thee 

120 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  '  121 

that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build 
my  church;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it " ;    "  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven :  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatso- 
ever thou  shalt   loose  on  earth  shalt  be  loosed  in 
heaven."     Luke  xxii.  31:  "  And  the   Lord   said, 
Simon,  Simon,  behold  Satan  hath  desired  to  have 
you,  that  he  may  sift  you  as  wheat."    John  xxi.  15 : 
"  So  when  they  had  dined,  Jesus  saith  to  Simon 
Peter,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest  thou  me  more 
than  these  ?     He  saith  unto  him,  Yea,  Lord;   thou 
knowest  that  I  love  thee.     He  saith  unto  him,  Feed 
my  lambs."    Now  as  to  the  declared  supremacy  of 
Peter.     It  is  not  so  much  what  is  claimed  in  these 
verses.     What  concerns  us  is  to  know  whether  the 
truth  is   spoken.     It  is   universally   conceded  by 
recognized  historians  that  it  cannot  be  proved  from 
the  New  Testament,  nor  from  history,  that  Peter 
was  Bishop  of  Rome,  or  ever  saw  Rome,  or  that  he 
was  Paul's  superior  or  appointed  a  successor  and 
transferred  to   him  his  prerogatives.     In  the  Right 
Hon.    William   E.    Gladstone's    "History   of   the 
Vatican  Council,"  Harper  Bros.,  New  York,  1875, 
he  says:    "  The  New  Testament  shows  no  single 
example  of  an  exercise  of  jurisdiction  of  Peter  over 
the  other  apostles,  but  the  very  reverse.   Paul  and 
John  were  perfectly  independent  of  him.     Paul 
even    openly   administered    a   rebuke   to   him    at 
Antioch.     At    the    Council    of    Jerusalem    James 
seems  to  have  presided,   and  Peter,   one   of  the 
leading  speakers,  protested  against  human  bond- 


122  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

age.*  As  to  Matt,  xvi,  'Thou  art  the  rock,' and  John 
xxi,     '  Feed  my  flock,'    could  at  best  only   prove 
papal  absolution.     The  former  treats  of  the  inde- 
structibility of  the  church  in  its  totality,  not  of  any  in- 
dividual congregation.     But  of  the  passage,  Matt, 
xvi.  which  is  more  frequently  quoted  by  popes  and 
bishops  and  papists  than  any  other  passage  in  the 
Bible,  there  are  no  less  than  five  different  ancient 
patristic    interpretations.     The    rock    on    which 
Christ  built  his  church  being  referred   to    Christ 
by  sixteen  fathers   (including  Augustine);  to  the 
faith  or  confession  of  Peter  by  forty-four  (including 
Ambrose,  Hilary,  Jerome,  and  Augustine  again) 
to  Peter  'professing  the  faith  by  seventeen;    to  all 
the  Apostles,  whom  Peter  represented,  by  eight; 
to  all  the  faithful,  who,  believing  in  Christ  as  the 
son  of  God,  are  constituted  the  living  stones  of  the 
church.    In  the  same  chapter  it  was  the  carnal  Simon 
who  presumed  to  direct  his  Lord  from  the  path 
of  suffering  and  drew  on  him  the  rebuke,  '  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan,  thou  art  a  stumbling  block  unto 
me,  for  thou  mindest  not  the  things  of  God,  but 
the   things   of   men.'      The   Simon   who   proudly 
boasted  of  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  his  Master, 
and  yet  a  few  hours  afterwards  denied  him  thrice 
before   a   servant  woman."     The   authority   con- 
veyed to  the  apostles  was  conferred  on  all  alike. 
All  were  chosen  the  same  way,  equally  empowered 
to  preach.     Peter  was  then  in  no  way  a  leader, 
claimed  or  recognized,  and  there  is  no  scriptural 
authority  for  his  supremacy :     Peter  never  wanted 
*Acts.  xv.   Comp.    Gal.  ii. 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  123 

it.  It  was  Rome  who  wanted  and  claimed  his 
primacy  centuries  after  his  death.  He  lived  and 
died  in  the  East,  so  says  history. 

It  may  not  be  irrelevant  here  to  inquire  as  to 
the  history  and  authenticity  of  the  writings  of  the 
apostles  from  whom  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
claims  its  supremacy,  both  temporal  and  spiritual. 
There  are  many  books  treating  of  this  subject,  but 
none  more  interesting,  fair,  lucid,  unprejudiced, 
than  the  "  Age  of  Reason,"  by  Thomas  Paine, 
Luxembourg,  8th  Pluvoise,  Jan.  4,  27.  O.  S.  1794. 
Paine  was  one  of  the  greatest  minds  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  In  the  closing  remarks  to  his 
fellow  citizens  of  the  United  States,  he  says,  "  The 
most  formidable  weapon  against  errors  of  every 
kind  is  reason.  I  have  never  used  any  other,  and 
I  trust  I  never  shall."  Only  a  brief  synopsis  is 
here  given  as  to  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the 
four  books  ascribed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John.  In  speaking  of  the  New  Testament 
Mr.  Paine  says, 

The  history  of  Jesus  Christ  is  contained  in  the  four 
books  ascribed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John. 

The  first  question  upon  the  books  of  the  New  Testament, 
as  upon  those  of  the  Old,  is,  Are  they  genuine  ?  Were  they 
written  by  the  persons  to  whom  they  are  ascribed  ?  For  it  is 
upon  this  ground  only  that  the  strange  things  related  therein 
have  been  credited.  Upon  this  point  there  is  no  direct  proof 
for  or  against,  and  all  that  this  state  of  a  case  proves  is  doubt- 
fulness, and  doubtfulness  is  the  opposite  of  belief.  The  state, 
therefore,  that  the  books  are  in  proves  against  themselves 
as  far  as  this  kind  of  proof  can  go. 

But  exclusive  of  this,  the  presumption  is  that  the  books 


124  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

called  the  Evangelists,  and  ascribed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  were  not  written  by  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John,  and  that  they  are  impositions.  The  disordered  state 
of  the  history  in  those  four  books,  the  silence  of  one  book  upon 
matters  related  in  the  other,  and  the  disagreement  that  is  to 
be  found  among  them,  implies  that  they  are  the  production 
of  some  unconnected  individuals,  many  years  after  the  things 
they  pretend  to  relate,  each  of  whom  made  his  own  legend; 
and  not  the  writings  of  men  living  intimately  together,  as  the 
men  called  the  apostles  are  supposed  to  have  done  —  in  fine, 
that  they  have  been  manufactured,  as  the  books  of  the  Old 
Testament  have  been,  by  other  persons  than  those  whose 
names  they  bear. 

The  story  of  the  angel  announcing  what  the  church  calls 
the  immaculate  conception  is  not  so  much  as  mentioned  in  the 
books  ascribed  to  Mark  and  John;  and  is  differently  related 
in  Matthew  and  Luke.  The  former  says  the  angel  appeared 
to  Joseph;  the  latter  says  it  was  to  Mary;  but  either  Joseph 
or  Mary  was  the  worst  evidence  that  could  have  been  thought 
of,  for  it  was  others  that  should  have  testified  for  them,  and 
not  they  for  themselves.  Were  any  girl  that  is  now  with 
child  to  say,  and  even  to  swear  it,  that  she  was  gotten  with 
child  by  a  ghost,  and  that  an  angel  told  her  so,  would  she  be 
believed  ?  Certainly  she  would  not.  Why,  then,  are  we  to 
believe  the  same  thing  of  another  girl,  whom  we  never  saw, 
told  by  nobody  knows  who,  nor  when,  nor  where  ?  How 
strange  and  inconsistent  it  is,  that  the  same  circumstance  that 
would  weaken  the  belief  even  of  a  probable  story  should  be 
given  as  a  motive  for  believing  this  one,  that  has  upon  the  face 
of  it  every  token  of  absolute  impossibility  and  imposture! 

The  story  of  Herod  destroying  all  the  children  under  two 
years  old  belongs  altogether  to  the  book  of  Matthew;  not 
one  of  the  rest  mentions  anything  about  it.  Had  such  a 
circumstance  been  true,  the  universality  of  it  must  have  made 
it  known  to  all  the  writers,  and  the  thing  would  have  been  too 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  125 

striking  to  have  been  omitted  by  any.  This  writer  tells  us 
that  Jesus  escaped  this  slaughter  because  Joseph  and  Mary 
were  warned  by  an  angel  to  flee  with  him  unto  Egypt;  but 
he  forgot  to  make  any  provision  for  John,  who  was  then  under 
two  years  of  age.  John,  however,  who  stayed  behind,  fared 
as  well  as  Jesus,  who  fled;  and,  therefore,  the  story  circum- 
stantially belies  itself. 

Not  any  two  of  these  writers  agree  in  reciting,  exactly  in  the 
same  words,  the  written  inscription,  short  as  it  is,  which  they 
tell  us  was  put  over  Christ  when  he  was  crucified;  and  be- 
sides this,  Mark  says:  He  was  crucified  at  the  third  hour 
(nine  in  the  morning),  and  John  says  it  was  the  sixth  hour 
(twelve  at  noon).* 

The  inscription  is  thus  stated  in  these  books : 

Matthew      ....  This  is. Jesus,  the  king  of  the  Jews. 

Mark The  king  of  the  Jews. 

Luke This  is  the  king  of  the  Jews. 

John Jesus  of  Nazareth,  king  of  the  Jews. 

We  may  infer  from  these  circumstances,  trivial  as  they  are, 
that  those  writers,  whoever  they  were,  and  in  whatever  time 
they  lived,  were  not  present  at  the  scene.  The  only  one  of  the 
men  called  apostles  who  appears  to  have  been  near  the  spot 
was  Peter,  and  when  he  was  accused  of  being  one  of  Jesus' 
followers,  it  is  said  (Matthew,  chap.  xxvi.  ver.  74),  '  Then 
he  [Peter]  began  to  curse  and  to  swear,  saying,  I  know  not  the 
man!  ' '  yet  we  are  now  called  upon  to  believe  the  same  Peter, 
convicted,  by  their  own  account,  of  perjury.  For  what 
reason,  or  on  what  authority,  shall  we  do  this  ? 

The  accounts  that  are  given  of  the  circumstances  that 
they  tell  us  attended  the  crucifixion  are  differently  related 
in  these  four  books. 

The  book  ascribed  to  Matthew  says,  chap,  xxvii.  ver.  45, 

"  Now  from  the  sixth  hour  there  was  darkness  over  all  tlte 

*According  to  John,  the  sentence  was  not  passed  till  about  the  sixth 
hour  (noon),  and,  consequently,  the  execution  could  not  be  till  the  after- 
noon; but  Mark  says  expressly,  that  he  was  crucified  at  the  third  hour 
(nine  in  the  morning) ,  chap,  xv,  verse  25.     John,  chap,  xix,  verse  14. 


126  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

land  unto  the  ninth  hour."  Ver.  51,  52,  53,  "  And,  behold, 
the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom;  and  the  earth  did  quake,  and  the  rocks  rent;  and  the 
graves  were  opened;  and  many  bodies  of  the  saints  which 
slept  arose,  and  came  out  of  the  graves  after  his  resurrection, 
and  went  into  the  holy  city  and  appeared  unto  many."  Such 
is  the  account  which  this  dashing  writer  of  the  book  of 
Matthew  gives,  but  in  which  he  is  not  supported  by  the 
writers  of  the  other  books. 

The  writer  of  the  book  ascribed  to  Mark,  in  detailing  the 
circumstances  of  the  crucifixion,  makes  no  mention  of  any 
earthquake,  nor  of  the  rocks  rending,  nor  of  the  graves  open- 
ing, nor  of  the  dead  men  walking  out.  The  writer  of  the  book 
of  Luke  is  silent  also  upon  the  same  points.  And  as  to  the 
writer  of  the  book  of  John,  though  he  details  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  crucifixion  down  to  the  burial  of  Christ,  he  says 
nothing  about  either  the  darkness  —  nor  the  veil  of  the 
temple  —  the  earthquake  —  the  rocks  —  the  graves  —  nor 
the  dead  men. 

IK;  Now,  if  it  had  been  true  that  those  things  had  happened, 
and  if  the  writers  of  those  books  had  lived  at  the  time  they 
did  happen,  and  had  been  the  persons  they  are  said  to  be, 
namely,  the  four  men  called  apostles,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  it  was  not  possible  for  them,  as  true  historians, 
even  without  the  aid  of  inspiration,  not  to  have  recorded 
them.  The  things,  supposing  them  to  have  been  facts,  were 
of  too  much  notoriety  not  to  have  been  known,  and  of  too 
much  importance  not  to  have  been  told.  All  these  supposed 
apostles  must  have  been  witnesses  of  the  earthquake,  if  there 
had  been  any;  for  it  was  not  possible  for  them  to  have  been 
absent  from  it;  the  opening  of  the  graves  and  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead  men,  and  their  walking  about  the  city,  is  of  greater 
importance  than  the  earthquake.  An  earthquake  is  always 
possible  and  natural,  and  proves  nothing;  but  this  opening 
of  the  graves  is  supernatural,  and  directly  in  point  to  their 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  127 

doctrine,  their  cause,  and  their  apostleship.  Had  it  been 
true,  it  would  have  filled  up  whole  chapters  of  those  books,  and 
been  the  chosen  theme  and  general  chorus  of  all  the  writers ; 
but  instead  of  this,  little  and  trivial  things,  and  mere  prattling 
conversations  of,  he  said  this,  and  he  said  that,  are  often 
tediously  detailed,  while  this,  most  important  of  all,  had  it 
been  true,  is  passed  off  in  a  slovenly  manner  by  a  single  dash 
of  the  pen,  and  that  by  one  writer  only,  and  not  so  much  as 
hinted  at  by  the  rest. 

It  is  an  easy  thing  to  tell  a  lie,  but  it  is  difficult  to  support 
the  lie  after  it  is  told.  The  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew 
should  have  told  us  who  the  saints  were  that  came  to  life  again, 
and  went  into  the  city,  and  what  became  of  them  afterward, 
and  who  it  was  that  saw  them  —  for  he  is  not  hardy  enough 
to  say  he  saw  them  himself. 

Strange,  indeed,  that  an  army  of  saints  should  return  to 
life,  and  nobody  know  who  they  were,  nor  who  it  was  that  saw 
them,  and  that  not  a  word  more  should  be  said  upon  the 
subject,  nor  these  saints  have  anything  to  tell  us!  Had  it 
been  the  prophets  who  (as  we  are  told)  had  formerly  proph- 
esied these  things,  they  must  have  had  a  great  deal  to  say. 
They  could  have  told  us  everything  and  we  should  have  had 
posthumous  prophecies,  with  notes  and  commentaries  upon 
the  first,  a  little  better  at  least  than  we  have  now. 

The  tale  of  the  resurrection  follows  that  of  the  crucifixion, 
and  in  this  as  well  as  in  that,  the  writers,  whoever  they  were, 
disagree  so  much  as  to  make  it  evident  that  none  of  them  were 
there. 

The  book  of  Matthew  states  that  when  Christ  was  put  in 
the  sepulchre,  the  Jews  applied  to  Pilate  for  a  watch  or  a 
guard  to  be  placed  over  the  sepulchre,  to  prevent  the  body 
being  stolen  by  the  disciples;  and  that,  in  consequence  of 
this  request,  the  sepulchre  was  made  sure,  sealing  the  stone 
that  covered  the  mouth,  and  setting  a  watch.  But  the  other 
books  say  nothing  about  this  application,  nor  about  the  seal- 


128  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

ing,  nor  the  guard,  nor  the  watch;  and  according  to  their 
accounts,  there  were  none.  Matthew,  however,  follows  up 
this  part  of  the  story  of  the  guard  or  the  watch  with  a  second 
part,  that  I  shall  notice  in  the  conclusion,  as  it  serves  to  detect 
the  fallacy  of  these  books. 

The  book  of  Matthew  continues  its  account,  and  says 
(chap,  xxviii.  ver.  i),  that  at  the  end  of  the  Sabbath,  as  it  began 
to  dawn,  toward  the  first  day  of  the  week,  came  Mary  Mag- 
dalene, and  the  other  Mary,  to  see  the  sepulchre.  Mark 
says  it  was  sun-rising,  and  John  says  it  was  dark.  Luke 
says  it  was  Mary  Magdalene  and  Joanna,  and  Mary,  the 
mother  of  James,  and  other  women,  that  came  to  the  sep- 
ulchre; and  John  states  that  Mary  Magdalene  came  alone. 
So  well  do  they  agree  about  their  first  evidence!  they  all, 
however,  appear  to  have  known  most  about  Mary  Magda- 
lene. 

The  book  of  Matthew  goes  on  to  say  (ver.  2),  "  And  be- 
hold there  was  a  great  earthquake,  for  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
descended  from  heaven,  and  came  and  rolled  back  the  stone 
from  the  door,  and  sat  upon  it."  But  the  other  books  say 
nothing  about  any  earthquake,  nor  about  the  angel  rolling 
back  the  stone  and  sitting  upon  it,  and,  according  to  their 
account,  there  was  no  angel  sitting  there.  Mark  says  the 
angel  was  within  the  sepulchre,  sitting  on  the  right  side. 
Luke  says  there  were  two,  and  they  were  both  standing  up; 
and  John  says  they  were  both  sitting  down,  one  at  the  head 
and  the  other  at  the  feet. 

Matthew  says  that  the  angel  that  was  sitting  upon  the 
stone  on  the  outside  of  the  sepulchre  told  the  two  Marys 
that  Christ  was  risen,  and  that  the  women  went  away  quickly. 
Mark  says  that  the  women,  upon  seeing  the  stone  rolled  away 
and  wondering  at  it,  went  into  the  sepulchre  and  that  it  was 
the  angel  that  was  sitting  within  on  the  right  side,  that  told 
them  so.  Luke  says  it  was  the  two  angels  that  were  standing 
up;   and  John  says  it  was  Jesus  Christ  himself  that  told  it 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  129 

to  Mary  Magdalene,  and  that  she  did  not  go  into  the 
sepulchre,  but  only  stooped  down  and  looked  in. 

Now,  if  the  writers  of  those  four  books  had  gone  into  a 
court  of  justice  to  prove  an  alibi  (for  it  is  of  the  nature  of  an 
alibi  that  is  here  attempted  to  be  proved,  namely,  the  absence 
of  a  dead  body  by  supernatural  means),  and  had  they  given 
their  evidence  in  the  same  contradictory  manner  as  it  is  here 
given,  they  would  have  been  in  danger  of  having  their  ears 
cropped  for  perjury,  and  would  have  justly  deserved  it.  Yet 
this  is  the  evidence,  and  these  are  the  books  that  have  been 
imposed  upon  the  world,  as  being  given  by  divine  inspiration, 
and  as  the  unchangeable  word  of  God. 

The  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew,  after  giving  this 
account,  relates  a  story  that  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the 
other  books,  and  which  is  the  same  I  have  just  before  alluded 
to. 

'  Now,"  says  he  (that  is,  after  the  conversation  the 
women  had  with  the  angel  sitting  upon  the  stone),  "  behold 
some  of  the  watch  [meaning  the  watch  that  he  had  said  had 
been  placed  over  the  sepulchre]  came  into  the  city,  and 
showed  unto  the  chief  priests  all  the  things  that  were  done; 
and  when  they  were  assembled  with  the  elders  and  had  taken 
counsel,  they  gave  large  money  unto  the  soldiers,  saying,  Say 
ye  His  disciples  came  by  night,  and  stole  him  away  while  we 
slept;  and  if  this  come  to  the  governor's  ears,  we  will  persuade 
him,  and  secure  you.  So  they  took  the  money  and  did  as 
they  were  taught;  and  this  saying  [that  his  disciples  stole  him 
away]  is  commonly  reported  among  the  Jews  until  this  day." 

The  expression,  until  this  day,  is  an  evidence  that  the 
book  ascribed  to  Matthew  was  not  written  by  Matthew,  and 
that  it  has  been  manufactured  lon£  after  the  times  and  things 
of  which  it  pretends  to  treat;  for  the  expression  implies  a 
great  length  of  intervening  time.  It  would  be  inconsistent 
in  us  to  speak  in  this  manner  of  anything  happening  in  our 
own  time.     To  give,    therefore,   intelligible  meaning  to  the 


130  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

expression,  we  must  suppose  a  lapse  of  some  generations  at 
least,  for  this  manner  of  speaking  carries  the  mind  back  to 
ancient  time. 

The  absurdity  also  of  the  story  is  worth  noticing;  for  it 
shows  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew  to  have  been  an  ex- 
ceedingly weak  and  foolish  man.  He  tells  a  story  that  con- 
tradicts itself  in  point  of  possibility;  for  though  the  guard, 
if  there  were  any,  might  be  made  to  say  that  the  body  was 
taken  away  while  they  were  asleep,  and  to  give  that  as  a 
reason  for  their  not  having  prevented  it,  that  same  sleep  must 
also  have  prevented  their  knowing  how  and  by  whom  it  was 
done,  and  yet  they  are  made  to  say,  that  it  was  the  disciples 
who  did  it.  Were  a  man  to  tender  his  evidence  of  something 
that  he  should  say  was  done,  and  of  the  manner  of  doing  it, 
and  of  the  person  who  did  it,  while  he  was  asleep,  and  could 
know  nothing  of  the  matter,  such  evidence  could  not  be  re- 
ceived; it  will  do  well  enough  for  Testament  evidence,  but 
not  for  anything  where  truth  is  concerned. 

I  come  now  to  that  part  of  the  evidence  in  those  books, 
that  respects  the  pretended  appearance  of  Christ  after  this 
pretended  resurrection. 

The  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew  relates,  that  the  angel 
that  was  sitting  on  the  stone  at  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre, 
said  to  the  two  Marys,  chap,  xxviii.  ver.  7,  "  Behold  Christ 
has  gone  before  you  into  Galilee,  there  shall  ye  see  him;  lo,  I 
have  told  you."  And  the  same  writer  at  the  next  two  verses 
(8,  9)  makes  Christ  himself  to  speak  to  the  same  purpose  to 
these  women  immediately  after  the  angel  had  told  it  to  them, 
and  that  they  ran  quickly  to  tell  it  to  the  disciples;  and  at  the 
sixteenth  verse  it  is  said,  "  Tlien  the  eleven  disciples  went 
away  into  Galilee,  into  a  mountain  where  Jesus  had  appointed 
them;  and  when  they  saw  him,  they  worshiped  him." 

But  the  writer  of  the  book  of  John  tells  us  a  story  very 
different  to  this;  for  he  says,  chap.  xx.  ver.  19,  "  Then  the 
same  day  at  evening,  being  the  first  day  of  the  week  [that  is, 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  131 

the  same  day  that  Christ  is  said  to  have  risen],  when  the  doors 
were  shut,  where  the  disciples  were  assembled,  for  fear  of  the 
Jews,  came  Jesus  and  stood  in  the  midst  of  them." 

According  to  Matthew  the  eleven  were  marching  to 
Galilee  to  meet  Jesus  in  a  mountain,  by  his  own  appointment, 
at  the  very  time  when,  according  to  John,  they  were  assembled 
in  another  place,  and  that  not  by  appointment,  but  in  secret 
for  fear  of  the  Jews. 

The  writer  of  the  book  of  Luke  contradicts  that  of  Mat- 
thew more  pointedly  than  John  does;  for  he  says  expressly 
that  the  meeting  was  in  Jerusalem  the  evening  of  the  same 
day  that  he  [Christ]  rose,  and  that  the  eleven  were  there. 
See  Luke,  chap.  xxiv.  ver.  13,  33. 

Now,  it  is  not  possible,  unless  we  admit  these  supposed 
disciples  the  right  of  wilful  lying,  that  the  writer  of  those 
books  could  be  any  of  the  eleven  persons  called  disciples; 
for  if,  according  to  Matthew,  the  eleven  went  into  Galilee  to 
meet  Jesus  in  a  mountain  by  his  own  appointment,  on  the 
same  day  that  he  is  said  to  have  risen,  Luke  and  John  must 
have  been  two  of  that  eleven;  yet  the  writer  of  Luke  says 
expressly,  and  John  implies  as  much,  that  the  meeting  was 
that  same  day,  in  a  house  in  Jerusalem;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  if,  according  to  Luke  and  John,  the  eleven  were  as- 
sembled in  a  house  in  Jerusalem,  Matthew  must  have  been 
one  of  that  eleven;  yet  Matthew  says  the  meeting  was  in  a 
mountain  in  Galilee,  and  consequently  the  evidence  given 
in  those  books  destroys  each  other. 

The  writer  of  the  book  of  Mark  says  nothing  about  any 
meeting  in  Galilee;     but  he  says,  chap.  xvi.  ver.  12,  that 
Christ,  after  his  resurrection,  appeared  in  another  form  to 
two  of  them  as  they  walked  into  the  country,  and  that  these 
two  told  it  to  the  residue,  who  would  not  believe  them. 
Luke  also  tells  a  story  in  which  he  keeps  Christ  employed  the 
whole  day  of  this  pretended  resurrection,  until  the  evening, 
and  which  totally  invalidates  the  account  of  going  to  the 


132  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

mountain  in  Galilee.  He  says  that  two  of  them,  without 
saying  which  two,  went  that  same  day  to  a  village  called 
Emmaus,  threescore  furlongs  (seven  miles  and  a  half)  from 
Jerusalem,  and  that  Christ,  in  disguise,  went  with  them,  and 
stayed  with  them  unto  the  evening,  and  supped  with  them, 
and  then  vanished  out  of  their  sight,  and  reappeared  that 
same  evening  at  the  meeting  of  the  eleven  in  Jerusalem. 

This  is  the  contradictory  manner  in  which  the  evidence 
of  this  pretended  reappearance  of  Christ  is  stated;  the  only 
point  in  which  the  writers  agree,  is  the  skulking  privacy  of 
that  reappearance;  for  whether  it  was  in  the  recess  of  a 
mountain  in  Galilee,  or  a  shut-up  house  in  Jerusalem,  it  was 
still  skulking.  To  what  cause,  then,  are  we  to  assign  this 
skulking  ?  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  directly  repugnant  to  the 
supposed  or  pretended  end  —  that  of  convincing  the  world 
that  Christ  had  risen;  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  have  asserted 
the  publicity  of  it  would  have  exposed  the  writers  of  those 
books  to  public  detection,  and,  therefore,  they  have  been 
under  the  necessity  of  making  it  a  private  affair. 

As  to  the  account  of  Christ  being  seen  by  more  than  five 
hundred  at  once,  it  is  Paul  only  who  says  it,  and  not  the  five 
hundred  who  say  it  for  themselves.  It  is,  therefore,  the 
testimony  of  but  one  man,  and  that,  too,  of  a  man  who  did 
not,  according  to  the  same  account,  believe  a  word  of  the 
matter  himself  at  the  time  it  is  said  to  have  happened.  His 
evidence,  supposing  him  to  have  been  the  writer  of  the  fif- 
teenth chapter  of  Corinthians,  where  this  account  is  given, 
is  like  that  of  a  man  who  comes  into  a  court  of  justice  to 
swear  that  what  he  had  sworn  before  is  false.  A  man  may 
often  see  reason,  and  he  has,  too,  always  the  right  of 
changing  his  opinion;  but  this  liberty  does  not  extend  to 
matters  of  fact. 

I  now  come  to  the  last  scene,  that  of  the  ascension  into 
heaven.  Here  all  fear  of  the  Jews,  and  of  everything  else, 
must  necessarily  have  been  out  of  the  question :    it  was  that 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  133 

which,  if  true,  was  to  seal  the  whole,  and  upon  which  the 
reality  of  the  future  mission  of  the  disciples  was  to  rest  for 
proof.     Words,    whether    declarations    or    promises,    that 
passed  in  private,  either  in  the  recess  of  a  mountain  in  Galilee 
or  in  a  shut-up  house  in  Jerusalem,  even  supposing  them 
to  have  been  spoken,  could  not  be  evidence  in  public;  it  was 
therefore  necessary  that  this  last  scene  should  preclude  the 
possibility  of  denial  and  dispute,  and  that  it  should  be  as 
public  and  as  visible  as  the  sun  at  noonday;  at  least  it  ought 
to  have  been  as  public  as  the  crucifixion  is  reported  to  have 
been.     But  to  come  to  the  point. 

In  the  first  place,  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Matthew  does 
not  say  a  syllable  about  it;  neither  does  the  writer  of  the  book 
of  John.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  not  possible  to  suppose 
that  those  writers  who  effect  to  be  even  minute  in  other 
matters  would  have  been  silent  upon  this,  had  it  been  true. 
The  writer  of  the  book  of  Mark  passes  it  off  in  a  careless, 
slovenly  manner,  with  a  single  dash  of  the  pen,  as  if  he  was 
tired  of  romancing  or  ashamed  of  the  story.  So  also  does  the 
writer  of  Luke.  And  even  between  these  two,  there  is  not  an 
apparent  agreement  as  to  the  place  where  his  final  parting 
is  said  to  have  been. 

The  book  of  Mark,  says  that  Christ  appeared  to  the 

eleven  as  they  sat  at  meat,  alluding  to  the  meeting  of  the 

eleven  at  Jerusalem;   he  then  states  the  conversation  that  he 

says  passed  at  that  meeting;   and  immediately  after  says  (as 

a  school  boy  would  finish  a  dull  story),  "  So  then,  after  the 

Lord  had  spoken  unto  them,  he  was  received  up  into  heaven 

and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  God."     But  the  writer  of  Luke 

says  that  the  ascension  was  from  Bethany;    that  he  [Christ] 

led  them  out  as  far  as  Bethany,  and  was  parted  from  them,  and 

was  carried  up  into  heaven.     So  also  was  Mahomet;    and  as 

to  Moses,  the  apostle  Jude  says,  ver.  9,  "  that  Michael  and  the 

devil  disputed  about  his  body:'     While  we  believe  such  fables 

as  these,  or  either  of  them,  we  believe  unworthily  of  the 

Almighty. 


134  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

I  have  now  gone  through  the  examination  of  the  four  books 
ascribed  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John ;  and  when  it  is 
considered  that  the  whole  space  of  time  from  the  crucifixion 
to  what  is  called  the  ascension  is  but  a  few  days,  apparently 
not  more  than  three  or  four,  and  that  all  the  circumstances  are 
said  to  have  happened  nearly  about  the  same  spot,  Jerusalem, 
it  is,  I  believe,  impossible  to  find  in  any  story  upon  record  so 
many  and  such  glaring  absurdities,  contradictions,  and  false- 
hoods as  are  in  those  books.  They  are  more  numerous  and 
striking  than  I  had  any  expectation  of  finding  when  I  began 
this  examination,  and  far  more  so  than  I  had  any  idea  of 
when  I  wrote  the  former  part  of  the  Age  of  Reason. 

Though  it  is  impossible,  at  this  distance  of  time,  to  ascer- 
tain as  a  fact  who  were  the  writers  of  those  four  books  (and 
where  we  doubt  we  do  not  believe),  it  is  not  difficult  to  ascer- 
tain negatively  that  they  were  not  written  by  the  persons  to 
whom  they  are  ascribed.  The  contradictions  in  those  books 
demonstrate  two  things : 

First,  that  the  writers  could  not  have  been  eye-witnesses 
and  ear-witnesses  of  the  matters  they  relate,  or  they  would 
have  related  them  without  those  contradictions ;  and,  conse- 
quently, that  the  books  have  not  been  written  by  the  persons 
called  apostles,  who  are  supposed  to  have  been  witnesses  of 
this  kind. 

Secondly,  that  the  writers,  whoever  they  were,  have  not 
acted  in  concerted  imposition;  but  each  writer  separately 
and  individually  for  himself,  and  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  other. 

The  same  evidence  that  applies  to  prove  the  one,  applies 
equally  to  both  cases ;  that  is,  that  the  books  were  not  written 
by  the  men  called  apostles,  and  also  that  they  are  not  a  con- 
certed imposition.  As  to  inspiration,  it  is  altogether  out  of 
the  question;  we  may  as  well  attempt  to  unite  truth  and 
falsehood  as  inspiration  and  contradiction. 

If  four  men  are  eye-witnesses  and  ear- witnesses  to  a  scene 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  135 

they  will,  without  any  concert  between  them,  agree  as  to 
time  and  place  when  and  where  that  scene  happened.  Their 
individual  knowledge  of  the  thing,  each  one  knowing  it  for 
himself,  renders  concert  totally  unnecessary;  the  one  will 
not  say  it  was  in  a  mountain  in  the  country,  and  the  other  at 
a  house  in  town :  the  one  will  not  say  it  was  at  sunrise,  and 
the  other  that  it  was  dark.  For  in  whatever  place  it  was,  at 
whatever  time  it  was,  they  know  it  equally  alike. 

I  am  not  one  of  those  who  are  fond  of  believing  there  is 
much  of  that  which  is  called  wilful  lying,  or  lying  originally, 
except  in  the  case  of  men  setting  up  to  be  prophets,  as  in  the 
Old  Testament;  for  prophesying  is  lying  professionally.  In 
almost  all  other  cases,  it  is  not  difficult  to  discover  the  prog- 
ress by  which  even  simple  supposition,  with  the  aid  of  credu- 
lity, will,  in  time,  grow  into  a  lie,  and  at  last  be  told  as  a  fact; 
and  whenever  we  can  find  a  charitable  reason  for  a  thing  of 
this  kind,  we  ought  not  to  indulge  a  severe  one. 

The  story  of  the  appearance  of  Jesus  Christ  is  told  with 
that  strange  mixture  of  the  natural  and  impossible  that 
distinguishes  legendary  tale  from  fact.  He  is  represented 
as  suddenly  coming  in  and  going  out  when  the  doors  were 
shut,  and  of  vanishing  out  of  sight  and  appearing  again,  as 
one  would  conceive  of  an  unsubstantial  vision;  then  again 
he  is  hungry,  sits  down  to  meat,  and  eats  his  supper.  But 
as  those  who  tell  stories  of  this  kind  never  provide  for  all  the 
cases,  so  it  is  here;  they  have  told  us  that  when  he  arose  he 
left  his  grave  clothes  behind  him;  but  they  have  forgotten 
to  provide  other  clothes  for  him  to  appear  in  afterward,  or 
to  tell  us  what  he  did  with  them  when  he  ascended, —  whether 
he  stripped  all  off,  or  went  up  clothes  and  all.  In  the  case 
of  Elijah,  they  have  been  careful  enough  to  make  him  throw 
down  his  mantle;  how  it  happened  not  to  be  burned  in  the 
chariot  of  fire  they  also  have  not  told  us.  But  as  imagination 
supplies  all  deficiencies  of  this  kind,  we  may  suppose,  if  we 
please,  that  it  was  made  of  salamander's  wool. 


136  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Those  who  are  not  much  acquainted  with  ecclesiastical 
history  may  suppose  that  the  book  called  the  New  Testament 
has  existed  ever  since  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  they  suppose 
that  the  books  ascribed  to  Moses  have  existed  ever  since  the 
times  of  Moses.  But  the  fact  is  historically  otherwise. 
There  was  no  such  book  as  the  New  Testament  till  more  than 
three  hundred  years  after  the  time  that  Christ  is  said  to  have 
lived. 

At  what  time  the  books  ascribed  to  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  and  John  began  to  appear  is  altogether  a  matter  of 
uncertainty.  There  is  not  the  least  shadow  of  evidence  of 
who  the  persons  were  that  wrote  them,  nor  at  what  time  they 
were  written;  and  they  might  as  well  have  been  called  by 
the  names  of  any  of  the  other  supposed  apostles,  as  by  the 
names  they  are  now  called.  The  originals  are  not  in  the 
possession  of  any  Christian  church  existing,  any  more  than 
the  two  tables  of  stone  written  on,  they  pretend,  by  the  finger 
of  God,  upon  Mount  Sinai,  and  given  to  Moses,  are  in  the 
possession  of  the  Jews.  And  even  if  they  were,  there  is  no 
possibility  of  proving  the  handwriting  in  either  case.  At  the 
time  those  books  were  written  there  was  no  printing,  and 
consequently  there  could  be  no  publication,  otherwise  than 
by  written  copies  which  any  man  might  make  or  alter  at 
pleasure,  and  call  them  originals.  Can  we  suppose  it  is  con- 
sistent with  the  wisdom  of  the  Almighty  to  commit  himself 
and  his  will  to  man  upon  such  precarious  means  as  these, 
or  that  it  is  consistent  we  should  pin  our  faith  upon  such  un- 
certainties ?  We  cannot  make,  nor  alter,  nor  even  imitate 
so  much  as  one  blade  of  grass  that  he  has  made,  and  yet  we 
can  make  or  alter  words  of  God  as  easily  as  words  of  man. 

About  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  time  that 
Christ  is  said  to  have  lived,  several  writings  of  the  kind  I 
am  speaking  of  were  scattered  in  the  hands  of  divers  indi- 
viduals-; and  as  the  church  had  begun  to  form  itself  into  a 
hierarchy,   or  church  government,   with  temporal   powers, 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  '  137 

it  set  itself  about  collecting  them  into  a  code,  as  we  now  see 
them,  called  The  New  Testament.  They  decided  by  vote, 
as  I  have  before  said  in  the  former  part  of  the  Age  of  Reason, 
which  of  those  writings,  out  of  the  collection  they  had  made, 
should  be  the  word  of  God,  and  which  should  not.  The 
Rabbins  of  the  Jews  had  decided,  by  vote,  upon  the  books  of 
the  Bible  before. 

As  the  object  of  the  church,  as  is  the  case  in  all  national 
establishments  of  churches,  was  power  and  revenue,  and 
terror  the  means  it  used,  it  is  consistent  to  suppose  that  the 
most  miraculous  and  wonderful  of  the  writings  they  had  col- 
lected stood  the  best  chance  of  being  voted.  And  as  to  the 
authenticity  of  the  books,  the  vote  stands  in  the  'place  of  it, 
for  it  can  be  traced  no  higher. 

Disputes,  however,  ran  high  among  the  people  then 
calling  themselves  Christians;  not  only  as  to  points  of  doc- 
trine, but  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the  books.  In  the  contest 
between  the  persons  called  St.  Augustine  and  Fauste,  about 
the  year  400,  the  latter  says:  "  The  books  called  the  Evan- 
gelists have  been  composed  long  after  the  times  of  the  apostles 
by  some  obscure  men,  who,  fearing  that  the  world  would  not 
give  credit  to  their  relation  of  matters  of  which  they  could 
not  be  informed,  have  published  them  under  the  names  of  the 
apostles,  and  which  are  so  full  of  sottishness  and  discordant 
relations,  that  there  is  neither  agreement  nor  connection 
between  them." 

And  in  another  place,  addressing  himself  to  the  advocates 
of  those  books  as  being  the  word  of  God,  he  says,  "  It  is  thus 
that  your  predecessors  have  inserted  in  the  scriptures  of  our 
Lord  many  things,  which,  though  they  carry  his  name,  agree 
not  with  his  doctrines.  This  is  not  surprising,  since  tliat  ice 
have  often  proved  that  these  things  have  not  been  written  by 
himself,  nor  by  his  apostles,  but  that  for  the  greater  part  they 
are  founded  upon  tales,  upon  vague  reports,  and  put  together 
by  I  know  not  what,  half-Jews,  but  with  little  agreement 


138  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

between  them,  and  which  they  have  nevertheless  published 
under  the  names  of  the  apostles  of  our  Lord,  and  have  thus 
attributed  to  them  their  own  errors  and  their  lies." 

The  reader  will  see  by  these  extracts,  that  the  authenticity 
of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  was  denied,  and  the 
books  treated  as  tales,  forgeries,  and  lies,  at  the  time  they 
were  voted  to  be  the  word  of  God.  But  the  interest  of  the 
church,  with  the  assistance  of  the  fagot,  bore  down  the  oppo- 
sition, and  at  last  suppressed  all  investigation.  Miracles 
followed  upon  miracles,  if  we  will  believe  them,  and  men 
were  taught  to  say  they  believed  whether  they  believed  or  not. 
But  (by  way  of  throwing  in  a  thought)  the  French  Revolution 
has  excommunicated  the  church  from  the  power  of  working 
miracles;  she  has  not  been  able,  with  the  assistance  of  all  her 
saints,  to  work  one  miracle  since  the  revolution  began;  and 
as  she  never  stood  in  greater  need  than  now,  we  may,  without 
the  aid  of  divination,  conclude  that  all  her  former  miracles 
were  tricks  and  lies. 

When  we  consider  the  lapse  of  more  than  three  hundred 
years  intervening  between  the  time  that  Christ  is  said  to  have 
lived  and  the  time  the  New  Testament  was  formed  into  a 
book,  we  must  see,  even  without  the  assistance  of  historical 
evidence,  the  exceeding  uncertainty  there  is  of  its  authenticity. 
The  authenticity  of  the  book  of  Homer,  so  far  as  regards  the 
authorship,  is  much  better  established  than  that  of  the  New 
Testament,  though  Homer  is  a  thousand  years  the  more 
ancient.  It  is  only  an  exceedingly  good  poet  that  could  have 
written  the  book  of  Homer,  and  therefore  few  men  only  could 
have  attempted  it;  and  a  man  capable  of  doing  it  would  not 
have  thrown  away  his  own  fame  by  giving  it  to  another.  In 
like  manner,  there  were  but  few  that  could  have  composed 
Euclid's  Elements,  because  none  but  an  exceedingly  good 
geometrician  could  have  been  the  author  of  that  work. 

But  with  respect  to  the  books  of  the  New  Testament, 
particularly  such  parts  as  tell  us  of  the  resurrection  and 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  139 

ascension  of  Christ,  any  person  who  could  tell  a  story  of  an  ap- 
parition, or  of  a  man's  walking,  could  have  made  such  books; 
for  the  story  is  most  wretchedly  told.  The  chance,  therefore, 
of  forgery  in  the  Testament,  is  millions  to  one  greater  than  in 
the  case  of  Homer  or  Euclid.  Of  the  numerous  priests  or 
parsons  of  the  present  day,  bishops  and  all,  every  one  of  them 
can  make  a  sermon,  or  translate  a  scrap  of  Latin,  especially  if 
it  has  been  translated  a  thousand  times  before;  but  is  there 
any  among  them  that  can  write  poetry  like  Homer  or  science 
like  Euclid  ?  The  sum  total  of  a  parson's  learning,  with  very 
few  exceptions,  is  a  b,  ab,  and  hie,  hoec,  hoc;  and  their  knowl- 
edge of  science  is  three  times  one  is  three;  and  this  is  more 
than  sufficient  to  have  enabled  them,  had  they  lived  at  the 
time,  to  have  written  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament. 

As  the  opportunities  of  forgeries  were  greater,  so  also  was 
the  inducement.  A  man  could  gain  no  advantage  by  writing 
under  the  name  of  Homer  or  Euclid ;  if  he  could  write  equal 
to  them,  it  would  be  better  that  he  wrote  under  his  own  name; 
if  inferior,  he  could  not  succeed.  Pride  would  prevent  the 
former,  and  impossibility  the  latter.  But  with  respect  to 
such  books  as  compose  the  New  Testament,  all  the  induce- 
ments were  on  the  side  of  forgery.  The  best  imagined 
history  that  could  have  been  made,  at  the  distance  of  two  or 
three  hundred  years  after  the  time,  could  not  have  passed  for 
an  original  under  the  name  of  the  real  writer;  the  only  chance 
of  success  lay  in  forgery,  for  the  church  wanted  pretence  for 
its  new  doctrine,  and  truth  and  talents  were  out  of  the 
question. 

It  is  not  upon  the  epistles,  but  upon  what  is  called  the 
Gospel,  contained  in  the  four  books  ascribed  to  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  and  upon  the  pretended  prophecies, 
that  the  theory  of  the  church  calling  itself  the  Christian 
church  is  founded.  The  epistles  are  dependent  upon  those, 
and  must  follow  their  fate;  for  if  the  story  of  Jesus  Christ  be 
fabulous,  all  reasoning  founded  upon  it  as  a  supposed  truth 
must  fall  with  it. 


140  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

We  know  from  history  that  one  of  the  principal  leaders 
of  this  church,  Athanasius,  lived  at  the  time  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  formed;*  and  we  know  also,  from  the  absurd 
jargon  he  left  us  under  the  name  of  a  creed,  the  character  of 
the  men  who  formed  the  New  Testament;  and  we  know  also 
from  the  same  history  that  the  authenticity  of  the  books  of 
which  it  is  composed  was  denied  at  the  time.  It  was  upon 
the  vote  of  such  as  Athanasius,  that  the  Testament  was 
decreed  to  be  the  word  of  God ;  and  nothing  can  present  to 
us  a  more  strange  idea  than  that  of  decreeing  the  word  of 
God  by  vote.  Those  who  rest  their  faith  upon  such  authority 
put  man  in  the  place  of  God,  and  have  no  foundation  for 
future  happiness;  credulity,  however,  is  not  a  crime,  but  it 
becomes  criminal  by  resisting  conviction.  It  is  strangling 
in  the  womb  of  the  conscience  the  efforts  it  makes  to  ascer- 
tain truth.  We  should  never  force  belief  upon  ourselves  in 
anything. 

The  evidence  produced  to  prove  them  forgeries  is  ex- 
tracted from  the  books  themselves,  and  acts,  like  a  two-edged 
sword,  either  way.  If  the  evidence  be  denied,  the  authenti- 
city of  the  scriptures  is  denied  with  it;  for  it  is  scripture  evi- 
dence; and  if  the  evidence  be  admitted,  the  authenticity  of 
the  books  is  disproved.  The  contradictory  impossibilities 
contained  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  put  them  in  the 
case  of  a  man  who  swears  for  and  against.  Either  evidence 
convicts  him  of  perjury,  and  equally  destroys  reputation. 

The  very  nature  and  design  of  religion,  if  I  may  so  ex- 
press it,  prove  even  to  demonstration  that  it  must  be  free 
from  everything  of  mystery,  and  unencumbered  with  every- 
thing that  is  mysterious.  Religion,  considered  as  a  duty,  is 
incumbent  upon  every  living  soul  alike,  and,  therefore,  must 
be  on  a  level  with  the  understanding  and  comprehension  of 
all.  Man  does  not  learn  religion  as  he  learns  the  secrets  and 
mysteries  ofa  trade.       He  learns  the  theory  of  religion  by 

*Athanasius  died,  according  to  the  Church  chronology,  in  the  year 
371. 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  "  141 

reflection.  It  arises  out  of  the  action  of  his  own  mind  upon 
the  things  which  he  sees,  or  upon  what  he  may  happen  to 
hear  or  to  read,  and  the  practice  joins  itself  thereto. 

I  totally  disbelieve  the  Almighty  ever  did  communicate 
anything  to  man,  by  any  mode  of  speech,  in  any  language, 
or  by  any  kind  of  vision  or  appearance,  or  by  any  means 
which  our  senses  are  capable  of  receiving,  otherwise  than  by 
the  universal  display  of  himself  in  the  works  of  the  creation, 
and  by  that  repugnance  we  feel  in  ourselves  to  bad  actions, 
and  the  disposition  to  do  good  ones. 

Nothing  that  is  here  said  can  apply,  even  with  the  most  dis- 
tant disrespect,  to  the  real  character  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  was 
a  virtuous  and  an  amiable  man.  The  morality  that  he  preached 
and  practised  was  of  the  most  benevolent  kind;  and  though 
similar  systems  of  morality  liad  been  preached  by  Confucius, 
and  by  some  of  the  Greek  philosophers,  many  years  before,  by 
the  Quakers  since,  and  by  many  good  men  in  all  ages,  it  1ms 
not  been  exceeded  by  any. 

Jesus  Christ  wrote  no  account  of  himself,  of  his  birth, 
parentage,  or  anything  else;  not  a  line  of  what  is  called  the 
New  Testament  is  of  his  own  writing.  The  history  of  him 
is  altogether  the  work  of  other  people;  and  as  to  the  account 
given  of  his  resurrection  and  ascension,  it  was  the  necessary 
counterpart  to  the  story  of  his  birth.  His  historians  having 
brought  him  into  the  world  in  a  supernatural  manner,  were 
obliged  to  take  him  out  again  in  the  same  manner,  or  the  first 
part  of  the  story  must  have  fallen  to  the  ground. 

How  much  or  what  parts  of  the  books  called  the  New 
Testament,  were  written  by  the  persons  whose  names  they 
bear,  is  what  we  can  know  nothing  of;  neither  are  we  certain 
in  what  language  they  were  originally  written.  The  matters 
they  now  contain  may  be  classed  under  two  heads, —  anecdote 
and  epistolary  correspondence. 

The  four  books  already  mentioned,  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,   and   John,   are   altogether  anecdotal.     They   relate 


142  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

events  after  they  had  taken  place.  They  tell  what  Jesus 
Christ  did  and  said  and  what  others  did  and  said  to  him; 
and  in  several  instances  they  relate  the  same  event  differ- 
ently. Revelation  is  necessarily  out  of  the  question  with 
respect  to  those  books;  not  only  because  of  the  disagreement 
of  the  writers,  but  because  revelation  cannot  be  applied  to  the 
relating  of  facts  by  the  person  who  saw  them  done,  nor  to 
the  relating  or  recording  of  any  discourse  or  conversation  by 
those  who  heard  it.  The  book  called  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  (an  anonymous  work)  belongs  also  to  the  anecdotal 

part. 

When  the  church  mythologists  established  their  system 
they  collected  all  the  writings  they  could  find,  and  managed 
them  as  they  pleased.  It  is  a  matter  altogether  of  uncertainty 
to  us  whether  such  of  the  writings  as  now  appear  under  the 
name  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  are  in  the  same  state 
in  which  those  collectors  say  they  found  them,  or  whether 
they  added,  altered,  abridged,  or  dressed  them  up. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  they  decided  by  vote  which  of  the  books 
out  of  the  collection  they  had  made  should  be  the  word  of 
God,  and  which  should  not.  They  rejected  several;  they 
voted  others  to  be  doubtful,  such  as  the  books  called  the 
Apocrypha;  and  those  books  which  had  a  majority  of  votes, 
were  voted  to  be  the  word  of  God.  Had  they  voted  otherwise, 
all  the  people  since  calling  themselves  Christians  had  be- 
lieved otherwise, —  for  the  belief  of  the  one  comes  from  the 
vote  of  the  other.  Who  the  people  were  that  did  all  this  we 
know  nothing  of;  they  called  themselves  by  the  general  name 
of  the  church,  and  this  is  all  we  know  of  the  matter. 

Putting  them  aside  as  a  matter  of  distinct  consideration, 
the  outrage  offered  to  the  moral  justice  of  God  by  supposing 
him  to  make  the  innocent  suffer  for  the  guilty,  and  also  the 
loose  morality  and  low  contrivance  of  supposing  him  to 
change  himself  into  the  shape  of  a  man,  in  order  to  make 
an  excuse  to  himself  for  not  executing  his  supposed  sentence 


Review  of  "  Age  of  Reason  '  143 

upon  Adam, —  putting,  I  say,  those  things  aside  as  matter  of 
distinct  consideration,  it  is  certain  that  what  is  called  the 
Christian  system  of  faith,  including  in  it  the  whimsical  ac- 
count of  the  creation,  the  strange  story  of  Eve,  the  snake, 
and  the  apple,  the  ambiguous  idea  of  a  man-god,  the 
corporeal  idea  of  the  death  of  a  god,  the  mythological  idea 
of  a  family  of  gods,  and  the  Christian  system  of  arithmetic, 
that  three  are  one,  and  one  is  three,  are  all  irreconcilable,  not 
only  to  the  divine  gift  of  reason  that  God  hath  given  to  man, 
but  to  the  knowledge  that  man  gains  of  the  power  and  wisdom 
of  God,  by  the  aid  of  the  sciences  and  by  studying  the  struc- 
ture of  the  universe  that  God  has  made. 

It  is  not  the  antiquity  of  a  tale  that  is  any  evidence  of  its 
truth ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  a  symptom  of  its  being  fabulous ; 
for  the  more  ancient  any  history  pretends  to  be,  the  more  it 
has  the  resemblance  of  a  fable.  The  origin  of  every  nation 
is  buried  in  fabulous  tradition,  and  that  of  the  Jews  is  as  much 
to  be  suspected  as  any  other. 

It  is  in  vain  to  attempt  to  palliate  or  disguise  this  matter. 
The  story,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  supernatural  part,  ha? 
every  mark  of  fraud  and  imposition  stamped  upon  the  face 
of  it.  Who  were  the  authors  of  it  is  as  impossible  for  us  now 
to  know,  as  it  is  for  us  to  be  assured  that  the  books  in  which 
the  account  is  related  were  written  by  the  persons  whose 
names  they  bear;  the  best  surviving  evidence  we  now  have 
respecting  this  affair  is  the  Jews.  They  are  regularly  de- 
scended from  the  people  who  lived  in  the  times  this  resur- 
rection and  ascension  is  said  to  have  happened,  and  they 
say  it  is  not  true.  It  has  long  appeared  to  me  a  strange 
inconsistency  to  cite  the  Jews  as  a  proof  of  the  truth  of  the 
story.  It  is  just  the  same  as  if  a  man  were  to  say  I  will  prove 
the  truth  of  what  I  have  told  you  by  producing  the  people  who 
say  it  is  false. 

From  the  foregoing  writings  of  Mr.  Paine  it 
would  appear  that   the   four   apostles,    Matthew, 


144  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Mark,  Luke,  and  John  could  not  have  been  eye 
and  ear  witnesses  of  matters  they  relate,  or  they 
would  have  related  them  without  those  contra- 
dictions; that  the  book  ascribed  to  Matthew 
as  the  inspired  word  of  God  is  not  only  unreliable, 
but  full  of  misstatements  and  falsehoods,  and  the 
pretended  authority  given  to  Peter  was  the  work 
of  irresponsible  and  designing  men.  At  all 
events,  whoever  the  author  of  Matthew  xvi.  18, 19, 
some  sagacious  gentlemen  were  shrewd  enough 
to  appropriate  them  for  their  own  use  and  behoof, 
and  made  them  a  base  of  operations,  with  many 
and  singular  claims  since  added,  to  delude  the 
masses,  whom  for  centuries  they  have  designedly 
kept  in  ignorance,  and  with  indulgences,  promises 
of  pardon,  and  the  auricular  confession  have 
been  eminently  successful  in  obtaining  enormous 
sums  of  money,  political  power,  and  personal 
aggrandizement,  and  are  very  likely  to  continue  to 
do  so  for  some  time  to  come. 


ARE  THE  CLAIMS  AND  TEACHINGS  OF 
THE  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH  AND 
THE      MORALS      OF     THE     JESUITS 
ADAPTED    TO  THE    CITIZENS     OF 
OUR  FEDERAL  REPUBLIC  ?    ALSO 
SOME      UNRELIABLE       CHRIS- 
TIAN DOGMAS 

A  FEW  men  some  centuries  ago  came  together 
and  decided  that  certain  manuscripts  con- 
tained the  inspired  word  of  God,  and  there- 
after in  due  time  these  manuscripts  were  put 
together  in  book  form,  and  this  book  was  called  the 
Holy  Bible.  From  this  book  various  religious  or- 
ganizations now  in  existence  found  spiritual  help 
and  formulated  their  respective  creeds,  each  claim- 
ing for  its  followers  pardon  of  sins  and  promise  of  a 
safe  passage  to  Paradise,  if  its  teachings  and  in- 
structions were  obeyed,  none  of  which  promises 
have  been  followed  with  flattering  results  as  far  as 
heard  from.  I  venture  to  say  there  is  no  subject  on 
which  educated  and  ignorant  men  alike  know  so 
little  of,  and  claim  to  know  so  much  of,  and  will 
fight  for,  as  the  history  and  truth  of  what  they  con- 
sider their  religion,  the  same  being  a  belief  in  some 
creed.  Early  impressions  on  the  sensorium  are 
seldom  changed,  and  the  difficulty  of  eradicating 
opinions  and  habits  formed  in  infancy  aids  the  in- 
creasing evil.  Hence,  for  centuries  a  small  number 
of  ignorant  men  have  ruled  a  'paying  mass  of  igno- 
rant men  and  women. 

145 


146  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

The  Christian  dogma  as  stated  by  St.  Paul, 
its  first  inventor,  is  as  follows: 

"  For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive."  This  may  be  expanded 
into  the  following  propositions,  as  given  by  S. 
Laing,  "  Modern  Science  and  Modern  Thought  " 
(Watts  &  Co.,  London): 

1.  That  the  Old  Testament  is  miraculously  inspired,  and 
contains  a  literally  true  account  of  the  creation  of  the  world 
and  of  man. 

2.  That,  in  accordance  with  this  account,  the  material 
universe,  earth,  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  all  living  things  on 
the  earth  and  in  the  seas,  were  created  in  six  days,  after  which 
God  rested  on  the  seventh  day. 

3.  That  the  first  man,  Adam,  was  created  in  the  image 
of  God  and  after  His  own  likeness,  and  placed,  with  the  first 
woman,  Eve,  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  where  they  lived  for  a 
time  in  a  state  of  innocence,  and  holding  familiar  converse 
with  God. 

4.  That  by  an  act  of  disobedience  they  fell  from  this 
high  estate,  were  banished  from  the  Garden,  and  sin  and 
death  were  inflicted  as  a  penalty  on  them  and  their  descen- 
dants. 

5.  That  after  long  ages,  during  which  mankind  remained 
under  this  curse,  God  sent  His  Son,  who  assumed  human 
form,  and  by  his  sacrifice  on  the  cross  appeased  God's  anger, 
removed  the  curse,  and  destroyed  the  last  enemy,  death, 
giving  a  glorious  resurrection  and  immortal  life  to  those  who 
believed  on  him. 

Since  the  foregoing  creed  was  formulated  it  has 
attracted  some  of  the  ablest  men  of  various  nations 
and  is  claimed  to  have  been  helpful  to  mankind, 
but  its  continuance  as  a  creed  would  seem  to  be 


Some   Unreliable   Christian  Dogmas      147 

inconsistent    with    facts    adduced    from    modern 
science,  which  most  clearly  proves  that  the  world 
was  not  made  as  described  in  Genesis,  that  animals 
were  not  created  in  one  or  two  days  and  spread  over 
the  earth  after  having  been  shut  up  in  the  Ark 
forty  days.     That  man  is  not  descended  from  an 
Adam  created  in  God's  image,  there  being  at  the 
time  claimed  millions  of  people  living  in  China, 
India,   and   other  countries.     That   the   accounts 
given  of  such  important  matters  in  writings  pro- 
fessedly   inspired    are    manifestly    untrue.     And 
when  asked  for  proof  of  life  everlasting,  with  saints 
and  angels,  the  reply  is,  actual  proof  cannot  be 
known  until  we  are  dead.     That  if  facts  contradict 
the  inspired  word  of  God,  all  the  worse  for  facts. 
A  Chinese  gentleman,  charged  with  putting  broken 
glass  bottles  on  top  of  his  house  and  fences  to  keep 
off  the  evil  spirits,  when  told  it  was  ridiculous  and 
absurd,  and  was  asked  to  prove  they  kept  them  off, 
replied,  "Prove  it  does  not  keep  them  off,"  and  up  to 
this  time  one  claim  has  proved  as  difficult  of  demon- 
stration as  the  other.     In  one  of  the  old  Norse 
Sagas  there  is  a  saying  of  an  aged  warrior  when 
asked  what  he  thought  of  the  new  religion,  replied, 
"  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  talk  of  the  old  Odin 
and  of  the  new  Christ,  but  whenever  things  have 
come  to  a  real  pinch  I  have  always  found  that  my 
surest  trust  was  in  my  own  right  arm  and  good 
sword."     For  centuries  the  world  has  made  no 
determined   efforts   to   disprove   priestly   dogmas, 
but  the  right  arm,  the  intelligence,  the  moral  force 
of  the  twentieth  century  is  gently  running  them  off 


148  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

the  course.     The  wind  that  once  filled  the  clerical 
sails  is  gone  by,  and  they  now  have  to  take  to  the 
oars  and  pull  for  a  harbor  where  the  errors  and 
superstitions  of  antiquity  are  no  longer  claimed 
to  be  the  foundations  of  truth,  justice,  and  mo- 
rality, and  where  any  authority  of  what  is  called 
religion,  which  excludes  examination,  is  destructive 
of  all  intelligence,   and   comprises  an  intolerable 
despotism    over   the    consciences    of    men,    is    no 
longer  sufferable  or  recognized.     But  in  its  place 
the  religion  of  to-day,  which  looks  for  'proofs  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  that  every  man  is  respon- 
sible for  deeds  done  in  the  body,  that  the  divine 
law  of  compensation  is  ever  present,  and  admits  of 
no   pretended   power,   authority,   or  intermediary 
between  man  and  the  All  Wise  Intelligence,  whom 
no  one  can  even  comprehend,  and  that  everything 
is  governed  by  law.      '  A  religion  which  teaches 
that  a  loving  father  could  not  inflict  punishment 
on  millions  of  unoffending  creatures  for  an  act  of 
disobedience  on  the  part  of  a  remote  ancestor,  and 
require  the  vicarious  sacrifice    of    an  only  son  as 
the  condition  of  forgiving  the  offense  and  removing 
the  curse,  or  that  the  existence  of  a  personal  God, 
the  divinity  of  Christ,  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible, 
and  the  reality  of  miracles  are  necessary  truths 
beyond  the  scope  of  reason." 

It  were  wise  that  educated  men  only,  learned 
in  the  sciences,  and  having  nothing  to  do  with 
speculative  opinions,  should  fill  the  places  now 
held  by  men  of  inferior  ability,  who  would  devote 
all  their  energies  to  teaching  Plato's  sublime  mo- 


Some  Unreliable  Christian  Dogmas       149 

rality,  and  making  good  and  honest  citizens  of  the 
entire  human  family;  that  the  obsequious  adula- 
tion paid  to  and  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  clergy 
be  discouraged;  that  wisdom,  instead  of  flowing 
robes  and  divinity  school  diplomas,  be  proof  and 
criterion  of  fitness  to  hand  down  spiritual  truths; 
that  men  of  the  highest  intelligence  be  employed 
by  the  governments  to  critically  and  exhaustively 
examine  as  to  the  probable  origin  and  truth  of  what 
is  known  as  the  Holy  Bible,  together  with  the  past 
history  and  practices  of  the  various  sects;  all  of 
which  will  help  clear  the  atmosphere  of  exploded 
doctrines,  to  discard  false  theories  and  beliefs,  and 
give  capacity  to  appropriate  new  truths  when  dis- 
covered and  proved.  With  the  people  thus  edu- 
cated, religion  will  cease  as  a  merchantable  com- 
modity, the  avocation  of  the  priest  is  gone,  and, 
happily,  other  fields  of  usefulness  opened  for  his 
delectation. 

History  and  science  have  put  an  end  to  belief 
in  certain  portions  of  the  Bible  as  the  inspired 
word  of  God,  and  proved  beyond  question  that 
the  authorship  of  the  most  important  books, 
though  ascribed  to  certain  writers,  is  unknown, 
and  is  the  work  of  unscrupulous  and  designing 
men.  This  applies  no  more  to  the  claims  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  than  to  that  of  any  other 
religious  denomination,  and  claiming  the  right 
exercised  by  the  followers  of  all  sects,  I  frankly 
admit  that,  while  a  firm  believer  in  an  "  All  Wise 
Intelligence,"  I  am  unable  to  share  with  them  a 
belief  in  their  respective  tenets.     For  the  good  and 


150  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

true  men  and  women  of  every  denomination  I 
have  the  utmost  respect.  The  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  an  ancient  organization,  is  and  has  been 
in  the  past  instrumental  in  doing  a  great  amount  of 
good  in  the  world,  and  will  continue  to  exist  and 
do  good  until  something  better  takes  its  place.  For 
its  leaders  and  representatives  in  the  United  States 
I  have  personally  no  animosity,  but  on  the  con- 
trary the  most  kindly  regard.  They  are  excellent 
gentlemen  and  mean  to  be  good  citizens,  and  while 
I  may  speak  with  warmth  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
"  System,"  with  whose  historical  pretensions  and 
political  aims  I  have  no  sympathy  and  cordially 
detest,  my  motives  are  good,  and  "  as  principles  are 
of  more  importance  than  individuals,  I  have 
deemed  it  best  to  write  the  truth,  hoping  and 
trusting  that  it  may  not  give  offense." 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic   Church 

As  already  stated,  the  basis  of  Roman  Catholic 
belief  was  taken  from  Matt.  xvi.  18,  19.  "  And 
I  say  also  unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon 
this  Rock  I  will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  And  I  will  give 
unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and 
whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound 
in  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on 
earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven."  With  these 
lines  as  a  pivot,  in  due  course  of  time  a  few  men 
came  together  and  formed  an  association  called 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  increasing  in  number 
and  power  from  century  to  century,  the  word 
Catholic  being  adopted  A.D.  380.  Assuming 
Matthew  said  these  words  were  uttered  by  Jesus 
Christ  to  Peter,  which  is  neither  admitted  nor 
believed,  in  view  of  the  proven  inaccuracy  and 
unreliability  of  the  writings  ascribed  to  Matthew, 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  the  absurd  claims  that 
Christ  knew  anything  of  the  All  Wise  Intelligence, 
called  God,  the  Father,  or  that  he,  Christ,  was  the 
equal  in  all  things  with  God  Almighty,  that  he, 
Christ,  knew  anything  about  a  place  called  heaven, 
and  much  less  had  any  keys  of  that,  or  any  other 
place,  to  bind  and  loose,  that  Peter  was  some  kind 
of  a  rock  on  which  to  build  a  church  (meaning, 
if  anything,  that  the  rock  was  not  the  persont  but 

151 


152  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

the  previous  confession  of  Peter) ;  that  Peter 
transferred  his  authority  to  his  successors,  or  that 
Christ  gave  authority  to  Peter  to  bind  and  loose 
anybody,  and  the  monstrous  claim  that,  "  what- 
soever thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in 
heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth 
shall  be  loosed  in  heaven,"  are  no  longer  tenable, 
which  latter  for  centuries  has  served  to  frighten 
the  ignorant,  unsuspecting  masses  and  robbed 
them  of  their  money  and  their  heritage.  With 
the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century  this  church  no 
longer  rests  in  fancied  security  that  its  dogmas  and 
divine  rights  cannot  be  disproved  because  no  one 
is  now  living  who  was  present  at  times  specified, 
or  can  set  aside  the  word  of  God.  These  false 
claims,  which  for  centuries  frightened  the  masses 
intentionally  kept  in  ignorance  by  the  church,  have 
no  terrors  for  the  world  intelligence  of  to-day, 
which  now  demands  proof  and  delivery  of  the 
goods,  failing  which  to  acknowledge  defeat,  and 
seek  other  avenues  for  idleness  or  usefulness. 
But  do  you  think  it  can  all  be  settled  easily  as 
that?  Ah  no.  This  organization  is  not  afflicted 
with  the  disease  of  modesty.  Its  aim  is  national, 
to  control  nations  as  in  the  past.  You  think  not  ? 
Wait  until  you  see  the  power  it  develops  in  our 
country  in  the  next  twenty-five  years,  unless  mean- 
time the  nation  awakes  from  its  deep  sleep  and 
recovers  its  own.  It  is  the  "System,"  the  " Curia," 
at  Rome,  the  veiled  prophets  behind  the  throne 
with  whom  the  nation  takes  issue  and  has  to  deal; 
who  are  all  powerful  through  their  army  of  bishops 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  153 

and  priests,  and  who  assert  the  present  Pope  is  the 
vice  gerent  of  God,  with  full  authority  from  God 
to  govern,  handed  down  by  Peter  through  his 
successors.  Neither  time  nor  space  admits  a 
history  of  popes.  There  have  been  in  all  ages 
and  in  all  professions  good  and  bad  men.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  popes.  The  "American 
Text-Book  of  Popery,  Chronological  Table,"  page 
115,  gives  among  the  many  events  cited  the  follow- 
ing, quoting  authorities,  which  serves  to  throw 
some  light  on  the  lives  and  character  of  the  gentle- 
men referred  to, —  successors  of  Peter  and  vice 
gerents  of  God,  viz.  "  In  A.  D.606  Pope  Boniface 
got  from  usurper  Phocas  (who  had  murdered 
Emperor  Mauritius  and  all  his  family)  ecclesiastical 
supremacy,  and  declared  the  appellation  pope 
should  ever  after  be  restricted  to  the  Roman 
pontiff.  In  863  Nicholas  I,  the  Pope,  and 
Photius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  reciprocally 
excommunicated  each  other.  In  881  Pope  John 
was  put  to  death  for  his  intolerable  wickedness. 
In  896  Pope  Boniface  VI  was  expelled  from  his 
high  office  before  the  end  of  the  first  month,  on 
account  of  his  atrocious  lewdness.  In  897  Pope 
Stephen,  a  more  outrageous  monster  than  Boni- 
face, was  seized  and  strangled  in  prison.  In  930 
(John  XII),  the  two  preceding  popes  were  murdered 
by  the  harlot  Marozia,  daughter  of  Theodora, 
that  she  might  place  in  the  popedom  her  son  John, 
whose  father  was  Pope  Sergius  III.  In  964  Pope 
Leo  was  caught  in  adultery  and  slain  upon  the 
spot,   by  the  husband.     In   1045  Pope  Benedict 


154  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

was  banished  from  the  popedom  for  his  wickedness. 
Sylvester  III  was  expelled  and  Gregory  VI  elected. 
They  all  resided  in  Rome;  thus  three  popes  were 
living  at  the  same  time.  In  1124  the  Archbishop 
of  Lyons  was  slain  at  Rome  for  censuring  beastly 
wickedness  of  the  papal  dignitaries.  In  1155 
Arnold  of  Brescia  was  burnt  for  exposing  the 
turpitude  of  the.  Roman  priests.  In  1300  Pope 
Boniface  styled  himself  "  Universal  Lord."  In 
1545  "  The  Council  of  Trent  "  opened  December 
13  the  sessions  continued  at  intervals  for  eighteen 
years.  From  the  teachings  then  promulgated  the 
Catholic  world  has  since  been  held  in  mental  and 
spiritual  bondage.  In  1540  order  of  Jesuits  was 
founded.  In  1605  Paul  V,  pope,  May  29  was 
styled  ' :  Vice  God  upon  earth,  monarch  of  Chris- 
tendom, and  the  supporter  of  papal  omnipotence/' 
In  1833  Gregory  XVI  denounces  liberty  of  con- 
science and  freedom  of  the  press  as  pestilential 
errors.  In  1844  the  pope  denounces  Bible  so- 
cieties as  the  work  of  the  devil.  In  1870  some 
cardinals  and  bishops  came  together  in  Rome  and 
declared  the  pope  infallible  in  faith  and  morals. 
A  pope  should  be  the  wisest  and  holiest  of  men,  of 
which  it  seems  some  of  these  popes  were  not. 

Referring  to  the  dogmatic  decrees  of  the  Vatican 
Council,  1870,  Chapter  I,  "  of  the  institution  of  the 
apostolic  primacy  in  the  blessed  Peter,  we  there- 
fore teach  and  declare,  that  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  the  gospel  the  primacy  of  jurisdiction 
over  the  universal  church  of  God  was  immediately 
and  directly  promised  and  given  to  blessed  Peter 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  155 

the  apostle  by  Christ  the  Lord.  For  it  was  to 
Simon  alone,  to  whom  he  had  already  said,  Thou 
shalt  be  called  Cephas,  that  the  Lord  after  the  con- 
fession made  by  him,  saying,  '  Thou  art  the  Christ 
the  son  of  the  living  God '  addressed  these  solemn 
words :  '  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-  Jona,  be- 
cause flesh  and  blood  have  not  revealed  it  to  thee, 
but  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  And  I  say  to  thee 
that  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build 
my  church  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it.  And  I  will  give  to  thee  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind  on  earth  it  shall  be  bound  also4n  heaven,  and 
whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be 
loosed  in  heaven.'  "  And  it  was  upon  Simon  alone 
that  Jesus  after  His  resurrection  bestowed  the 
jurisdiction  of  chief  pastor  and  ruler  over  all  His 
fold  in  the  words,  "  Feed  my  lambs;  feed  my 
sheep."  At  open  variance  with  this  clear  doctrine 
of  Holy  Scripture,  as  it  has  been  ever  understood 
by  the  Catholic  Church,  are  the  perverse  opinions 
of  those  who,  while  they  distort  the  form  of  gov- 
ernment established  by  Christ  the  Lord  in  His 
church  deny  that  Peter  in  his  single  person,  pre- 
ferably to  all  the  other  apostles,  was  endowed  by 
Christ  with  a  true  and  proper  primacy  of  juris- 
diction, or  of  those  who  assert  that  theT'same 
primacy  was  not  bestowed  immediately  and  di- 
rectly upon  blessed  Peter  himself,  but  upon  the 
church,  and  through  the  church  on  Peter  as  her 
minister.  If  any  one,  therefore,  shall  say  that 
blessed  Peter  the  apostle  was  not  appointed  the 


156  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

prince  of  all  apostles  and  the  visible  head  of  the 
whole  church  militant;  or  that  the  same  directly 
and  immediately  received  from  the  same  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  a  primacy  of  honor  only  and  not  of 
true  and  proper  jurisdiction,  let  him  be  anathema 
(cursed).  And  Chapter  II,  on  the  perpetuity 
of  the  primacy  of  blessed  Peter  in  the  Roman 
pontiffs,  "Whence  whosoever  succeeds  to  Peter 
in  this  see,  does  by  the  institution  of  Christ 
himself  obtain  the  primacy  of  Peter  over  the 
whole  church.  .  .  .  Wherefore  it  has  at  all  times  been 
necessary  that  every  particular  church  —  that  is  to 
say,  the  faithful  throughout  the  world  —  should 
agree  with  the  Roman  church  on  account  of  the 
greater  authority  of  the  princedom  which  this  has 
received;  that  all  being  associated  in  the  unity  of 
that  *  see/  whence  the  rights  of  communion 
spread  to  all,  might  grow  together  as  members  of 
one  head  in  the  compact  unity  of  the  body.  If, 
then,  any  should  deny  that  it  is  by  the  institution 
of  Christ  the  Lord,  or  by  divine  right,  that  blessed 
Peter  should  have  a  perpetual  line  of  successors 
in  the  primacy  over  the  universal  church,  or  that 
the  Roman  pontiff  is  not  the  successor  of  blessed 
Peter  in  this  primacy,  let  him  be  anathema ' 
(cursed).  So,  "  any  one  who  denies  Peter  was  not 
prince  of  apostles,  and  that  whosoever  succeeds 
him  obtains  the  primacy  over  the  whole  church, 
let  him  be  cursed."  And,  that  Jesus,  after  his 
resurrection  bestowed  the  jurisdiction  of  chief 
and  ruler  over  all  his  fold  in  the  words,  "Feed 
my  lambs,  feed  my  sheep. "     What  audacity,  what 


1 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  157 

impudence  in  face  of  the  past  history  of  popes  and 
claimed  successors  of  Peter,  vice  gerents  of  God. 
That  because  Christ  said,  "  Feed  my  lambs,  feed 
my  sheep,"  he  bestowed  the  jurisdiction  of  chief 
pastor  and  ruler  over  all  his  fold  and  then  talks 
of  a  government  established  by  Christ  the  Lord. 
What  can  you  do  with  such  pitiable  claims,  divine 
prerogatives  ?  But  it  is  only  the  same  old  arrogant, 
presumptuous  assumptions  and  declarations  of  a 
small  body  of  ignorant  men  with  whose  successors 
you  now  have  to  deal.  The  same  old  scheme  of 
claiming  for  the  pope  all  power,  the  prophets  be- 
hind the  throne,  the  "Curia,"  moving  him  about 
the  chessboard  like  a  little  pawn,  whenever  they 
saw  fit,  as  is  already  set  forth  by  Pope  Ganganelli. 
This  infamous  crime,  tricked  out  in  the  trappings 
of  morality  and  disguised  as  religion,  is  no  more 
than  selfish  greed,  and  it  is  imperative  the  people 
of  our  country  should  be  educated  as  to  the  fraud 
and  rapacity  of  this  organization  (the  "  system  ' 
which  wraps  itself  in  impenetrable  concealment), 
and  have  brought  home  to  them  the  peril  of  the 
situation  by  which  they  are  being  reduced  to  a 
condition  of  serfdom.  It  only  waits  the  hour  to 
strike,  when,  with  ignorant  votes  and  safe  vaults 
plethoric  with  gold,  it  demands  supremacy,  as 
always  in  the  past.  You  think  not  ?  Wait  and 
see. 

Referring  to  the  Council  of  Trent:  No  docu- 
ment concerning  popery  is  of  so  much  importance 
as  the  acts  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  Jan.  6,  1564, 
the   Pope's   Bull    confirmed   the    Decrees    of    the 


158  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

"  Council  of  Trent,"  which  has  been  in  session 
eighteen  years,  and  the  laws  and  duties  of  our  race 
were  then  settled.  The  following  are  the  decrees 
as  given  by  G.  D.  Abbot,  in  "  Mexico  and  the 
United  States. ' ' 

First,  that  Jesus  Christ  constituted  Peter  as  the  supreme 
head  of  the  twelve  apostles  and  his  successors  and  vice  gerents 
on  earth,  and  that  all  the  apostles  were  subject  to  him.  Second, 
that  the  pope  of  Rome  succeeds  to  all  the  titles  and  rights  of 
Peter,  who  by  Christ's  appointment  placed  his  seat  at  Rome 
and  there  remained  until  his  death,  and  that  all  of  Peter's 
rights  have  passed  regularly  down  through  the  line  of  his 
successors  to  Paul  III  and  Pius  IX.  Third,  that  the  great- 
ness of  the  pope's  priesthood  begun  in  Melchizedek,  was 
solemnized  in  Aaron,  and  was  continued  in  Aaron's  sons, 
was  made  perfect  in  Christ,  and  represented  in  Peter;  was 
exalted  in  the  pontifical,  universal  jurisdiction,  and  mani- 
fested in  his  successors.  Fourth,  that  the  pope  is  immaculate, 
infallible,  and  irresponsible  to  any  earthly  tribunal  or  power. 
He  is  judge  of  all,  can  be  judged  by  none,  kings,  priests,  nor 
people.  He  is  f ree  from  all  laws,  so  that  he  cannot  incur  any 
sentence  or  penalty  for  any  crime.  Fifth,  the  pope  is  by 
divine  right  invested  with  all  the  spiritual  powers,  and  is  the 
sovereign  head,  supreme  judge  in  all  things  relating  to  reli- 
gion, faith,  or  discipline.  He  is  all  in  all,  and  above  all  so 
that  God  and  the  pope,  the  vicar  of  God,  are  but  one  "  con- 
sistory "  (College  of  Cardinals  at  Rome).  Wherefore  the 
pope  hath  power  to  abrogate  laws,  to  dispense  all  things  in 
regard  to  marriage,  usury,  divorce,  homicide,  perjury.  He 
hath  all  power  on  earth,  purgatory,  heaven,  and  hell,  to  bind, 
loose,  command,  permit,  dispense,  do,  and  undo.  Therefore 
it  is  declared  to  stand  upon  necessity  of  salvation  for  every 
human  creature  to  be  subject  to  the  Roman  pontiff.  Sixth, 
all  temporal  power  is  his;    the  dominion,  jurisdiction,  and 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  159 

government  of  the  whole  earth  is  his  by  divine  right.  All 
rulers  of  the  earth  are  his  subjects,  and  must  submit  to  him. 
Seventh,  all  the  earth  is  the  pope's  diocese.  Eighth,  the  pope 
is  supreme  over  all  ecclesiastical  authority  and  councils  of 
the  Universal  Church.  He  has  absolute  -power  over  them. 
Infallibility  in  the  spiritual  order  and  absolute  sovereignty 
in  the  temporal  are  synonymous  and  convertible  terms. 

Such  are  the  assumptions  and  preposterous 
absurdities  now  made  and  maintained  in  the 
twentieth  century  in  the  name  of  religion.  As 
Talleyrand  remarked,  '  I  marvel  that  indignant 
humanity  does  not  rise  in  the  majesty  of  truth 
and  sweep  to  destruction  the  whole  fabric,  with 
its  agents  and  abettors."  Dense  ignorance  of 
the  nations,  of  its  past  history  and  present  aims, 
alone  prevents. 

The  various  changes  in  doctrines,  ceremonies, 
discipline,  and  government  were  contrived  to 
enhance  power  and  wealth,  and  to  tax  their 
votaries  under  the  name  and  forms  of  religion, 
until  a  large  proportion  of  the  national  possessions 
of  Europe  were  at  the  pope's  disposal.  Sacra- 
ments and  indulgences  are  still  among  the  chief 
emoluments  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

When  dogmas  cannot  be  understood,  educa- 
tion through  the  eye  becomes  necessary;  when 
the  eye  is  dazzled,  the  ear  soothed,  the  emotions 
of  the  heart  can  be  more  readily  stirred  than 
by  oratory;  an  appeal  to  the  senses  is  always 
stronger.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  priests  take 
pains  to  make  attractive  places  of  worship.  Hence, 
images    and    relics,    paintings,    candles,    colored 


160  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

globes,  with  lamp  always  burning,  and  from  age  to 
age  have  come  theatrical  pageantry  of  ceremonies, 
invocation  of  saints,  purgatory  (the  gold  mine  of 
priests  and  monks),  miracles,  canonization  of 
saints,  vestments,  friars  and  nuns,  penance,  abso- 
lution, and  purchase  of  souls  out  of  limbo,  by  in- 
dulgences, sacramental  garments,  masses  for  the 
dead,  monarchism,  private  confession,  sale  of 
indulgences,  invention  of  the  seven  sacraments, 
elevation  of  the  cross,  and  other  impious  rites; 
transubstantiation,  plenary  indulgence  for  those 
who  have  received  sacrament  of  penance  and 
holy  Eucharist,  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  processions 
and  feast  in  honor  of  the  sacrament,  with  gorgeous, 
gold-embroidered  robes  of  bishops  and  archbish- 
ops, the  Immaculate  Conception,  the  Mariolatry 
which  exalts  the  Virgin  Mary  as  queen  of  heaven, 
the  sole  object  of  superstitious  trust  and  idola- 
trous honor;  the  ever-present  boxes  for  money  to 
build  houses,  churches,  and  support  clericals  in 
idleness;  the  Holy  See,  Holy  Mother,  Holy  Ghost, 
holy  water,  Holy  Mother  Church,  Holy  Eucharist, 
holy  chrism,  holy  orders,  holy  days,  with  the 
"  Curia,"  cardinals,  archbishops,  prelates,  bishops, 
priests,  and  monasteries,  all  the  work  and  words 
of  designing  men  at  Rome.  In  A.D.  666  the 
idolatrous  rites  were  commanded  to  be  performed 
everywhere  in  the  Latin  language,  which  produced 
the  obliteration  of  the  scriptures,  as  the  common 
people  couldn't  read  and  did  not  understand  that 
language. 

Three  hundred  years  ago  the  Latin  race  had  the 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  161 

wealth  of  the  world  in  its  possession,  and  the  fairest 
and  most  fruitful  realms  of  earth  as  its  own  to  show 
what  it  could  do  for  humanity,  but  it  bowed  to  the 
papal  supremacy.  Behold  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal, 
Ireland,  where  a  plethora  of  priests  and  ignorance 
of  the  masses  abound.  Witness  the  South  Am- 
erican republics  and  Mexico,  for  centuries  under 
the  heel  of  Rome.  France,  where  the  women 
were  first  secured,  and  through  them  the  family, 
after  years  of  suffering  and  abject  humiliation  has 
shaken  off  the  yoke.  From  1871  to  1875  the 
Catholics  had  the  whole  control  of  France;  that 
control  they  used  to  destroy  the  republic.  "  To 
give  liberty  to  these  people  is  about  as  safe  as  to 
give  it  to  mad  dogs."  They  were  in  possession  of 
every  public  office,  and  were  driven  from  power 
by  an  outraged  nation.  Again,  in  1906,  they  were 
caught  with  Rome  plotting  against  the  nation, 
which  has  now  taken  the  education  of  the  children 
into  its  own  hands  and  compelled  obedience  to  the 
civil  laws.  In  1867  the  clericals  fled  from  Mexico, 
fearing  vengeance  of  the  government.  They  were 
not  interfered  with,  but  told  that  'political  Roman- 
ism was  dead,  and  they  must  henceforth  keep  their 
hands  off  the  nation's  affairs,  mind  their  religious 
work,  and  that  alone, —  as  is  fully  set  forth  in 
"  Butler's  Transition  of  Mexico."  Bismarck  de- 
clared "  the  papacy  has  been  a  political  power 
which,  with  the  greatest  audacity,  has  interfered 
with  the  affairs  of  this  world."  He  directed  the 
German  ambassador  at  Rome  to  inform  Cardinal 
Antonelli,  that  "  unless  the  charge  against  Protest- 
antism was  withdrawn  he  would  not  allow  the 


162  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Prussian  bishops  on  their  return  from  the  Council 
to  resume  their  functions  in  Prussia."  "  If  France 
complains  of  the  Council  Antonelli  makes  three 
bows,  and  all  remains  as  before.  If  Prussia  comes 
with  her  mustache  and  cavalry  boots  Rome  under- 
stands that  the  word  is  quickly  followed  by  the 
deed,  and  wisely  yields."  To-day  the  Catholics 
having  traded  their  votes  in  the  Reichstag  to  give 
the  emperor  money  to  build  men  of  war,  have  got 
back  all  they  lost  through  Bismarck,  and  are  once 
more  intrenched,  and  increasing  in  numbers  and 
power,  and  all  at  the  expense  of  the  tax  payers, 
who  little  understand  the  game  of  their  superiors 
with  the  Roman  "  Curia,"  which  latter,  in  the 
end,  always  come  to  the  post  smiling  and  victorious. 
Witness  the  plausible  presentment  of  Catholic 
teaching  and  obligation  dangled  before  the  world, 
and  that  which  the  dominant  (foreigner)  party 
imposes  on  those  inside  the  church. 

Apropos  of  this  subject,  Baroness  von  Zedtwitz, 
nee  Miss  Lena  Caldwell,  has  published  a  book 
called,  "  The  Double  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,"  explaining  her  grounds  for  retiring  from 
that  communion  after  giving  liberally  from  her 
large  fortune  to  the  church.  Her  sister,  Countess 
de  Merinville,  it  is  said,  gave  three  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  to  be  used  to  found  the  Catholic  Uni- 
versity at  Washington,  D.  C.  The  following  ex- 
tract is  one  newspaper's  review  of  the  book: 

Baroness  von  Zedtwitz  explains  in  the  preface  to  her  book 
the  reasons  which  she  considers  important  enough  to  explain 
its  existence.    Owing  to  the  extremely  hostile  attitude  assumed 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  163 

by  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  this  country  toward 
my  decision,  and  its  persistent  efforts  at  first  to  belittle  the 
sincerity  of  my  renunciation  of  their  system,  I  have  found 
it  necessary  to  resort  to  the  only  way  of  silencing  the  voices  of 
those  who  persistently  spread  the  report  that  I  never  com- 
pletely severed  my  connection  with  the  Church  of  Rome. 

The  Baroness  explains  the  title  by  her  theory  of  exoteric 
and  esoteric  Catholicism.  Exoteric  Catholicism  is  the  reli- 
gion of  the  faithful  members  of  the  flock.  Esoteric  is  the 
system  by  which  the  prelates  and  high  clergy  endeavor  to 
advance  the  temporal  interests  of  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion. The  author  blames  the  members  of  the  Society  of 
Jesus  for  most  of  this  activity.     She  writes : 

"  It  was  not,  as  is  popularly  believed,  to  combat  heresy 
that  the  Jesuits,  as  an  order,  came  into  being;  it  was  to  save 
the  Roman  Church  from  the  abyss  and  ruin  which  threatened 
it.  Both  within  and  without  the  Roman  Church,  Luther 
and  Calvin  are  known,  not  as  heretics,  but  reformers;  and 
the  name  Reformation  can  never  be  torn  from  that  stupendous 
movement  which  freed  thinking  and  believing  minds  from 
the  servitude  of  Rome.  " 

It  is  indeed  to  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  that  Baroness  von  Zedtwitz  devotes  most 
of  her  book.  She  finds  them  in  part  the  moving  spirit  of 
esoteric  Catholicism.     She  writes: 

"  Jesuitism  is  but  esoteric  Catholicism  made  tangible.  It 
is  the  heart  and  spirit  of  the  whole  system;  and  whether  or 
not  there  have  been  popes  and  prelates  who  are  covertly 
hostile  to  its  necessary  hegemony,  they  are  aware  that  if 
Catholicism  and  papacy  are  to  last  Jesuitism  is  absolutely 
indispensable  for  their  justification ;  were  it  otherwise  Rome, 
following  the  course  she  has  always  pursued  in  denouncing 
unsound  doctrines  of  a  theological  nature,  would  have  been 
forced  to  call  upon  the  Jesuits  in  Vatican  council  to  disown 
and  repudiate  the  unsound  moral  teachings  of  a  whole  host 


164  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

of  Jesuit  authors,  or  failing  to  obey  this  order  banish  the 
Jesuits  from  the  church.  Rome  has  never  attempted  either. 
The  Jesuits  are  the  bold  cynics  who  meet  with  a  sneer  the 
faltering  Christian  doubtful  of  his  power  to  reach  salvation; 
they  are  the  mockers  of  those  seeking  more  light  on  intel- 
lectual doubts;  they,  the  modern  Pyrrhonists,  emboldened 
by  their  Greek  prototype,  reply  now  to  the  seeker  of  truth 
as  Pilate  once  replied  to  Christ,  '  What  is  truth  ?' 

The  influence  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church's  esoteric 
features  on  the  public  life  of  this  country  has  been  very  per- 
nicious, according  to  the  author.  She  attributes  to  it  much 
of  the  recent  scandal  in  business  affairs.     She  writes: 

"  The  pursuit  of  money,  therefore,  is  the  chief  method  now 
used  by  Rome  to  regain  her  lost  power,  and  she  permeates  the 
atmosphere  wherein  she  thrives  with  this  spirit  of  greed. 

"  Free  expression  of  thought  in  this  country  has  now 
become  obsolete;  everywhere  does  Roman  influence  or 
pressure  so  coerce  by  bribery  and  threat  the  former  liberty- 
loving  citizen  that  even  the  sentiment  of  freedom  has  been 
in  a  measure  displaced  to  make  room  for  the  love  of  power 
and  wealth;  these  are  motives  which  Rome  can  use  and 
manipulate.   Liberty  in  any  form  she  is  impotent  to  handle.  " 

The  morality  of  the  clergy  and  the  standard  of  veracity 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  are  other  points  about  which 
Baroness  von  Zedtwitz  discourses  in  her  book.     She  says : 

"  It  seems  quite  evident  that  the  church  has  no  intention  of 
interpreting  this  law  so  strictly  in  its  general  application, 
since  the  vows  of  all  cloisters  and  the  special  code  governing 
regulars  include,  besides  the  vow  of  celibacy,  the  supple- 
mentary vow  of  chastity,  which  would  naturally  be  wholly 
unnecessary  did  the  already  existing  vow  of  celibacy  suffi- 
ciently express  the  denial  they  volunteer  to  observe. 

"  The  disciplinary  punishment  applied  to  trespassers  has 
regard,  therefore,  solely  to  the  violation  of  the  letter,  and  is 
broad  and  lax.     On  all  points  of  conduct  the  clergy  are 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  165 

reprimanded  in  proportion  to  the  scandal  they  cause  and  not 
for  the  act  per  se. 

"  The  standard  of  veracity  in  the  Church  of  Rome  differs 
seriously  from  that  used  by  moralists  in  general.  The  prin- 
cipal and  most  influential  guide  upon  questions  of  morals  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  always  lawful  for  a  '  just 
cause.'  An  example  of  each  kind  will  help  to  make  the 
matter  plainer.  A  man  asked  if  a  particular  thing  be  true 
which  he  knows  to  be  true,  but  does  not  wish  to  admit,  may 
lawfully  reply,  '  I  say,  No,'  meaning  thereby  only,  '  I  utter 
the  word,  No,'  and  not,  '  I  declare  that  the  thing  did  not 
happen.'  A  witness,  asked  if  a  prisoner  has  committed  a 
certain  crime,  is  allowed  to  deny  it  if  the  act  be  one  which  he 
himself  does  not  think  criminal;  and  if  the  crime  be  a  hidden 
one,  so  that  no  one  knows  the  facts  except  the  criminal  and 
the  witness,  the  latter  is  not  only  allowed,  but  bound,  to  say 
that  the  accused  did  ways  lawful  for  '  a  just  cause.' 

"  The  book  is  dedicated  to  the  '  Rev.  C.  L.  G,'  a  mark 
of  esteem  and  sympathy." 

The  pursuit  of  money,  therefore,  is  the  chief  method  now 
used  by  Rome  to  regain  her  lost  power.  "  Free  expression  of 
thought  in  this  country  has  now  become  obsolete.  Every- 
where does  Roman  influence  or  pressure  so  coerce  by  bribery 
and  threat  the  former  liberty-loving  citizen,  that  even  the 
sentiment  of  freedom  has  been  in  a  measure  displaced  to 
make  room  for  the  love  of  power  and  wealth.  These  are 
motives  which  Rome  can  use  and  manipulate.  Liberty  in 
any  form  she  is  impotent  to  handle." 

As  to  Jesuits  above  referred  to,  see  Butler's 
"  Mexico  in  Transition,"  page  278.  "  For  their 
crimes,  intrigues,  and  conspiracies  the  Jesuits  have 
been  banished  from  various  countries  again  and 
again."     The    last    (then)    report    showed    2,377 


166  The  Roman  Catholic   Church 

members  of  this  order,  1,130  in  the  United 
States  and  a  large  portion  of  the  remainder  in 
England. 

These  are  the  gentlmen,  polite,  plausible,  and   trained, 
the  spies,  the  vassals,  the  sworn  minions  of  a  foreign  despot, 

who,  having  been  expelled  from  Catholic  countries  again  and 
again  by  popes,  princes,  and  kings,  both  Catholic  and 
Protestant,  now  swarm  into  England  and  America,  and, 
under  the  protection  which  the  influence  of  an  open  Bible 
gives  to  honest  men,  are  proceeding  to  destroy  the  public 
schools,  debauch  the  government,  and  work  the  mischief 
which  has  ever  been  their  legitimate  business. 

In  August,  1873,  the  Jesuits  were  expelled  from 
Mexico,  the  next  day  the  newspaper,  El  Monitor 
Republicano,  published  an  article  bearing  the  title 
"Jesuits,  farewell!"  It  contained  a  fearful 
arraignment  of  the  miseries  which  this  order  of 
foreigners  had  inflicted  upon  Mexico  when  their 
baneful  influence  was  intruded  into  her  social  and 
public  life;  how  they  had  identified  themselves 
remorselessly  with  the  enemies  of  her  freedom. 

Jesuits,  farewell !  In  this  hour  of  your  departure  we  have 
no  sympathy  or  compassion  for  you.  We  reserve  both  for 
the  people  among  whom  you  will  now  fix  your  homes,  and 
with  whose  social,  civil,  and  religious  life  you  will  endeavor 
to  tamper,  as  you  have  tampered  with  ours,  with  similar 
results  of  misery  and  distress. 

And  further  on,  Dr.  Butler  gives  dates  of  expul- 
sion of  Jesuits  from  the  various  countries  of  the 
world  as  follows : 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  1G7 


For  their  crimes,  intrigues,  and  conspiracies  the  Jesuits 
have  been  banished  from  various  countries  again  and  again, 
as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  table,  compiled  from  "  A 
Short  Sketch  of  the  Jesuits,"  also  from  the  "  Encyclopedia 
of  Chronology,"  by  B.  B.  Woodward  and  William  L.  R. 
Cates,  and  from  other  trustworthy  authorities. 


JESUITS  EXPELLED  FROM 


Saragossa 
La  Palinterre 
Vienna 
Avignon 


1555 
1558 
1566 
1570 


Antwerp,  Portugal,  etc.  1578 
England  ....  1579 
England  again  .  .  1581 
England  again  .  .  1584 
England  again  .  .  1586 
Japan  ....  1587 
Hungary  and  Transyl- 
vania ....  1588 
Bordeaux  .  .  .  1589 
The  whole  of  France  1594 
Holland  ....  1596 
Touron  and  Berne  .  1597 
England  again  .  .  1602 
England  again  .  .  1604 
Denmark,  Venice,  etc.  1606 
Venice  again  .  .  .  1612 
Amura,  Japan  .  .  1613 
Bohemia  ....  1618 
Moravia  ....  1619 
Naples  and  Netherlands  1622 
China  and  India  .  .  1623 
Turkey  ....  1628 
Abyssinia  ....  1632 


Malta 1634 

Russia  ....  1723 
Savoy  ....  1724 
Paraguay  .  .  .  .  1733 
Portugal  .  .  Sept.  3,  1759 
Prohibited  in  France  1762 
France  again  .      .     1764 

Spain,  colonies,  and  Sici- 
lies and  Naples        .      1767 
Parma  and  Malta        .      1768 
All  Christendom,  by  bull 
of  Clement  XrV, 

July  21,  1773 
Russia  ....  1776 
France  again  .  .  .  1804 
Canton  Grisons  .  .  1804 
Naples  again  .      .      1810 

France  again  .      .      1816 

Moscow,  St.  Petersburg, 

and  Canton  Soleure  1816 
Belgium  ....  1818 
Brest  (by  the  people)  .  1819 
Russia  again  .      .     1820 

Spain  again  .  .  .  1820 
Rouen  Cathedral  (by  the 

people)  .  .  .  1825 
Belgium  schools    .      .     1826 


1G8 


The  Roman  Catholic  Church 


France,  8  colleges  closed,  1828 
G't  Britain  and  Ireland  1829 
France  again  .      .      1831 

From  entering  Saxony  1 83 1 
Portugal  ....  1834 
Spain  again  .  .  .  1835 
Rheims  (by  the  people)  1838 
From  entering  Lucerne  1 84  2 
Lucerne  again  .  .  1845 
France  again  .      .      1845 

Switzerland      .      .      .      1847 
Bavaria  and  Genoa     .      1848 
Papal  States,  by  Pius  IX, 
Sardinia,  Vienna,  Aus- 


Several  Italian  states  1859 
Sicily  again  .  .  .  1860 
Spain  again  .  .  .  1868 
Guatemala  .  .  .  1871 
Switzerland  .  .  .  1871 
German  empire  .  .  1872 
Mexico  (by  the  viceroy)  1853 
Mexico  (by  Comonfort)  1856 
Mexico  (by  Congress)  1873 
New  Granada  since  1879 
Venezuela        .      .      .      1879 


Argentine  Republic 
Hungary    . 
Brazil    .... 
France  again 


1879 
1879 
1879 
1880 


tria  ....      1848 

Standing  back  in  the  shadow,  the  Jesuits  work  unseen 
day  and  night  for  their  purposes.  By  the  use  of  the  confes- 
sional they  can  lay  their  hands  on  every  secret  of  social  and 
personal  life  in  every  family  where  they  have  a  representative 
of  their  religion.  As  to  politics  and  public  men  no  power  in 
this  world  is  so  debasing  as  that  of  Jesuitism. 

The  laws  of  Mexico  now  sanction  no  monas- 
tery or  nunnery ,  Sisters  of  Charity,  or  Jesuits  within 
her  bounds.  From  the  above  it  would  seem  that 
Jesuitism  and  Romanism  are  inimical  to  liberty  and 
a  conspiracy  against  the  state.  Baroness  von 
Zedtwitz  further  says,  It  is  the  heart  and  spirit 
of  the  whole  system,  that  if  Catholicism  and  papacy 
are  to  last  Jesuitism  is  absolutely  indispensable  for 
their  justification;  otherwise  Rome  would  have 
forced  the  Jesuits  to  repudiate  the  moral  teaching 
of  a  host  of  Jesuit  authors,  failing  which,  to  banish 
them  from  the  church.     Rome  has  done  neither. 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  169 

What  have  America  and  England  done  to  prevent 
the  growth  and  spread  of  the  Jesuit  Catholic 
system  ? 

Nothing,  absolutely  nothing.  Its  power  is  felt 
in  Congressional  legislation  at  Washington  and  in 
the  capitols  of  the  various  states. 

Germany  has  restored  rights  to  the  Jesuits. 
Mr.  Redmond  has  introduced  a  bill  in  the  House  of 
Commons  repealing  the  acts  prohibiting  residence, 
the  acquisition  of  property,  and  holding  high  offices 
by  the  Jesuits  and  other  monastic  orders.  Premier 
Asquith,  it  is  said,  spoke  early  in  the  debate  and 
gave  his  cordial  support  to  the  object  of  the  bill. 
One  is  here  reminded  of  the  old  slavery  days, 
when  a  few  Southern  gentlemen  ruled  our  country 
for  thirty  years,  and  to  whom  the  North  truckled 
in  order  to  have  peace.  Business  men  and  politicians 
said :  "  We  must  not  agitate  the  slavery  question, 
it  hurts  our  business,  and  we  won't  have  it !  D  —  n 
the  niggers,  anyhow."  The  same  is  now  said 
when  this  matter  called  religion  is  discussed.  Has 
England  forgotten  the  scourging  of  a  former  king 
through  her  streets  by  Roman  Catholic  bishops,  and 
the  recent  plotting  of  Spanish  and  Jesuit  managers 
at  Rome  for  the  attempted  Catholic  demonstration 
in  the  streets  of  London  to  destroy  the  friendly 
relations  between  France  and  England  ?  Has  she 
forgotten  a  certain  foreign  monarch  en  rapport 
with  Rome  pulls  the  strings  at  will  to  weaken  her  ? 
And  through  the  same  subterranean  channel 
enormous  battleships  are  ordered  by  governments 
having    no    use    for   them,    and    thus    compelling 


170  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

England  in  self  defense  to  overburden  its  people 
with  additional  taxes.  This  is  well  known  and 
understood  by  the  powers  at  Rome,  who  play 
nations  against  each  other  and  trade  for  power 
and  money,  when  both  countries  are  too  weak 
for  resistance.  How  long  is  it  to  be  before  dear 
old  England  learns  the  lesson  that  the  exactions 
of  the  "  Curia  "  are  the  root  of  all  evil;  that  no 
nation  can  exist  half  slave  and  half  free;  that  a 
power  outside  her  borders  claims  and  now  exer- 
cises authority  over  her  citizens,  is  superior  to  all 
laws,  acknowledges  no  superior  authority;  that 
history  and  science  now  show  this  pretended  author- 
ity is  a  myth,  maintained  by  an  army  of  followers 
whose  power,  bread,  and  butter,  depend  on  their 
obedience  and  civility  to  a  few  ignorant  men  in 
Rome,  who  use  a  man  called  the  pope  with  which 
to  frighten  ignorant  and  superstitious  people  and 
get  their  money,  and  whose  chief  aim  is  to  keep 
the  people  in  mental  subjection  ?  All  the  troubles 
of  England  with  Ireland  are  born  of  this  curse, 
but  until  England,  like  France,  takes  the  educa- 
tion of  children  into  its  own  hands,  compels  its 
children  to  attend  public  schools,  abolishing  reading 
of  any  Bible  therein,  abolishes  parochial  schools, 
and,  as  in  Switzerland,  compels  attendance  to  the 
public  schools,  monasteries  and  nunneries,  and 
serves  notice  on  Rome,  and  its  own  bishops  at  home, 
that  it  will  suffer  no  further  meddling  with  its 
affairs,  will  its  troubles  cease.  Impossible,  you 
say!  No,  it  is  not  impossible;  but  there  will  be  no 
rest  until  these  things  are  done,  and  it  will  come 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  171 

only  when  the  nation  has  suffered  enough.     When 
this  system  of  ignorance,  imposture,  and  intolerable 
despotism  and  hypocrisy  is  understood;   when  the 
creed  or  warrant  by  and  through  which  its  man- 
agers claim  supreme  spiritual  and  civil  authority 
over  all  the  earth  shall  be  proved  a  show  and  play- 
thing, and  the  nations  shall  regard  the  pope  and 
Roman  "  Curia  "  in  any  other  light  than  a  mis- 
chievous and  hostile  monarchical  despot,  assisting 
the  enemies  of  law,  with  its  followers  living  under 
a  despotism,  comparison  with  which  the  Ottoman 
or  other  empires  are   wellnigh   liberal;    until  this 
obtains,  the  conflict  will  continue  as  for  centuries 
in  the  past.     The  pope,  a  creature  of  the  cardinals, 
is  a  prisoner  in  the  Vatican,  virtually  has  no  power 
only  through  his  followers,  and  lives,  as  it  were,  on 
sufferance.     In  1870,  on   the   withdrawal   of   the 
French  army,  by  which  and  alone  the  papal  gov- 
ernment existed,  says  Butler's  "  Mexico  in  Transi- 
tion," less  than  one  hundred  votes  (49)  were  cast 
for  its  retention  and  fifty  thousand  for  King  Victor 
Emanuel.     Count  Biancini    declared  "  the  people 
of  Rome  would  rather  see  their  city  perish  in  ashes 
than  again  be  subject  to  papal  domination."    The 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  has  nothing  to  do  with  these 
intrigues.     The  God  of  the  universe  is  not  the  God 
of  popes  and  priests.     In  her  self-sufficiency  the 
church  seeks  to  elevate  herself  above  all  responsi- 
bility to  any  other  power,  and  claims  immunity 
from    secular   jurisdiction,  and    the    state,    which 
immensely  increases  her  power  for  doing  mischief, 
makes  no  account  to  the  nation  of  her  vast  accumu- 
lations,   claims    all    immunities,  and    contributes 


172  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

nothing  to  the  public  burdens.  With  this  property 
the  church  has  always  fought  against  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  She  increases  her  monastic 
system,  jealously  secluded  from  government  in- 
spection or  influence  of  public  opinion  as  to  per- 
sonal property  or  rights  and  liberties  of  the  thou- 
sands around  whom  she  erected  those  massive 
walls.  It  is  a  truth  well  established  by  experience, 
that  the  only  aim  of  the  priest  is  to  fatten  on  the 
superstition  of  the  ignorant,  and  that  is  why  en- 
lightened men  have  denounced  the  priesthood. 

The  church  has  always  sided  with  ignorance 
because  she  has  always  thrived  on  the  profits  of 
ignorance.  The  religious  chains  forged  in  early 
childhood  never  break,  and  it  is  now  and  has  always 
been  the  policy  of  the  '  system  '  to  secure  the 
young  girls  and  forge  the  chains  before  they  are 
able  to  think  for  themselves,  and  once  secured, 
their  children  are  brought  up  in  the  faith  and  put 
their  money  in  the  boxes.  In  our  country  the 
church  has  always  had  a  free  hand :  first,  because 
our  people  were  ignorant  of  its  history  and  real 
intentions,  and  second,  because  interfering  with 
one's  religion  is  not  popular.  Now  that  its  voters 
increase  in  number,  would-be  presidents,  governors, 
and  lesser  officials  become  more  obsequious  to  the 
managers  of  the  "  system  "  for  its  votes,  which  will 
always  be  secured  by  one  of  the  two  political  parties 
for  good  and  sufficient  consideration,  as  repeatedly 
demonstrated  in  foreign  countries.  On  account  of 
the  enormous  number  of  foreigners  now  coming 
to  our  shores  the  "  system  "  has  grown  bolder  and 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  173 

more  arrogant  in  the  exercise  of  the  vast  political 
power  it  has  acquired,  through  the  money  and  votes 
they  bring,  nor  are  the  high  church  officials  accused 
of  living  in  poverty.  In  Equador,  Butler  says, 
in  "  Transition  of  Mexico,"  "the  priests  control  the 
government,  dictate  all  laws,  and  absolutely  rule 
the  country;  the  social  and  political  condition 
presents  a  picture  of  the  dark  ages."  But  for  Magna 
Charter,  says  Sir  William  Blackstone,  the  priests 
would  have  engulfed  all  the  real  estate  of  Eng- 
land. It  took  centuries  to  protect  and  perfect  the 
nation  against  their  rapacity  and  schemes  to  avoid 
the  statutes.  Says  Lord  Palmerston,  :  Where- 
ever  the  Romish  priesthood  have  gained  a  pre- 
dominance, there  the  utmost  amount  of  intolerance 
is  invariably  the  practice."  Says  Lafayette,  '  If 
ever  the  liberties  of  the  United  States  are  destroyed 
it  will  be  by  the  Romish  priests."  Says  the  late 
Duke  of  Richmond,  '  Rome  has  designs  on  the 
United  States;  were  we  to  be  swamped  with  immi- 
gration, the  immigrants  would  become  citizens, 
hold  the  balance  of  power  between  the  political 
parties,  would  gain  the  majority  when  our  institu- 
tions would  be  overthrown  and  the  republic 
abolished,"  as  has  repeatedly  been  tried  in  France, 
by  holy  conspirators  at  Rome.  A  power  which  is 
sought  as  an  ally  and  feared  as  an  enemy  may  do 
things  with  impunity  and  very  little  censure.  The 
managers  of  the  "  system  "  view  with  satisfaction 
the  controlling  factors  soon  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
the  priests.  As  an  instance,  the  World's  Work 
Magazine  speaks  of  seventeen  thousand  (more  or 


174  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

less)  of  a  certain  race  of  workmen  near  Pittsburg, 
Penn.,  who  don't  even  know  the  English  language, 
but  who  are  citizens,  with  twenty  thousand  children 
(more  or  less)  attending  parochial  schools,  and 
church  property  valued  $750,000.  Is  there  any 
question  in  your  mind  how  these  men  will  vote 
when  ordered?  See  following  account  of  two 
towns  in  state  of  Kansas. 

The  towns  are  built  around  a  church.  The  church  at 
Munjon  and  the  one  at  Catherinstadt  cost  from  $20,000  to 
$40,000  each.  Other  great  stone  structures  are  the  dwellings 
of  priests  and  the  schools  for  parish  educational  work. 

The  priest  rules  the  municipality  and  the  county,  for  the 
voters  of  the  Russian  denomination  are  in  the  majority  in  at 
least  two  counties.  In  the  late  spring  there  is  a  march  to 
the  open  lands  and  the  blessing  of  the  fields  takes  place. 
Other  customs  that  seem  strange  in  this  land  are  followed. 
The  priest  is  greeted  with  bared  head  by  all  when  seen  on  the 
street.  He  wears  his  robes  all  the  week.  It  is  an  odd  sight 
to  see  the  whiskered  farmers  and  the  priests  riding  in  up  to 
date  motor  cars. 

The  stores  and  schools  are  all  managed  by  the  members 
of  the  sect  and  the  tendency  is  toward  yet  greater  clannish- 
ness  as  the  property  of  the  communities  falls  more  into  their 
hands.  In  some  of  the  counties  the  politics  is  absolutely 
controlled  by  the  Russian  vote,  and  it  is  folly  for  the  candi- 
date who  is  not  favored  by  this  people  to  aspire  to  office. 

Any  question  how  these  men  will  vote  when 
ordered?  Every  state  is  honeycombed  with  this 
constantly  increasing  power,  which  is  now  collect- 
ing more  money,  building  more  palatial  residences, 
more   churches,    monasteries,    and  nunneries  (all 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  175 

nurseries  of  Roman  power)   than  ever  before  in 
the  history  of  the  church.     In  fact,  there  is  no  city 
or  village  of  any  size  where  this  church  does  not  push 
her  benefices,  indulgences,  and  collect  her  reve- 
nues.    Who  sends  the  sisters  of  charity  on  begging 
expeditions  through  our  cities  to  call  at  private 
houses  and  get  money  from  the  servant  girls  (of 
the    fold),    the   latter   threatening   to    leave,    and 
making   trouble   if   the   madam   objects   to   their 
calling  and  interfering  with  her  affairs!     And  here 
is  where  the  long  arm  of  the  Octopus  comes  home 
to  us  all.     Who  sends  the  sisters  to  the  grog  shops 
for  money  the  owners  (in  the  fold)  dare  not  refuse  ? 
Who   runs   the   churches,   convents,   monasteries, 
nunneries,   and   certain   schools   in   the   country? 
It's  the  "  system,"  which  is  out  for  gold  and  poli- 
tical power.     Come  with  me  and  see  its  enormous 
buildings  and  holdings  in  all  the  large  cities,  and 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  with  value  running  into  the 
millions;    virtually  the  treasury  and  headquarters 
of  what  is   known   as   the  Apostolic   Delegation, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  American  Vatican, 
overlapping  the  whole  American  hierarchy,  whose 
canonical  rights  are  little  known  even  to  the  bishops 
themselves  and  over  whose  affairs  the  state  exer- 
cises no   control.     It  contributes  nothing    to   the 
public  burdens  and  claims  all  immunities.     The 
only    organization  which  does  not  hold  her  peace 
when  the  governors  of  the  world  command.     But 
where  does  all  this  money  come  from?     For" the 
most  part  from  the  ignorant  masses  all  over^the 
country,  the  common  people,  and  through  the  large 


176  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

army  who  belong  to  the  ecclesiastical  orders,  the 
common  priests  who  collect  it  and  whose  generals 
reside  in  Washington  and  Rome.  And  what  do 
the  people  get  for  it  ?  They  get  duped,  and  to 
express  it  in  all  kindness,  they  get  promises  of 
heaven  and  a  pardon  of  sins,  which  can't  be  made 
good;  promises  made  by  deceitful  and  designing 
men  for  their  own  benefit,  centuries  ago;  repeated, 
and  handed  down  to  this  generation  by  ignorant, 
designing  men  at  Rome,  with  the  willing  or  un- 
willing assistance  of  the  large  army  of  bishops  and 
priests  in  this  country.  You  may  remember  that 
all  cardinals  and  bishops  derive  their  authority  and 
jurisdiction  from  the  pope,  that  is,  from  the 
"  Curia,"  who  tells  them  what  they  may  do,  and 
manages  affairs  in  its  own  exclusive  interests. 
The  American  high  officials  owe  their  positions 
to  the  "  Curia,"  and  must  be  respectful  and  obe- 
dient in  order  to  hold  them.  They  must  of 
necessity  support  the  pretensions  of  the  Roman 
'  Curia  '  or  they  would  lose  their  commissions, 
and  with  that  goes  their  authority  and  bank  ac- 
count, both  important  factors.  Up  to  this  time 
the  "  Curia  "  have  managed  to  keep  all  authority 
centered  in  foreign  cardinals,  and  have  for  a  long 
time  kept  the  American  bishops  on  tiptoe  of  expec- 
tation. They  go  to  Rome  every  year,  tell  what 
they  are  doing  over  here,  how  the  church  is  growing 
in  power,  of  the  brilliant  future,  what  new  clerical 
demands  the  country  will  stand  and  what  it  won't; 
to  go  slow  in  the  assumption  of  authority,  that  there 
are   thirteen   million   loyal    Catholics   who   would 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  177 

like  to  see  the  pope  (but  the  pope  is  a  prisoner  in 
the  Vatican,  influential  simply  because  of  his 
power  outside  of  Rome,  not  inside) ,  and  as  distance 
lends  enchantment  to  his  loyal  subjects,  they 
remain  satisfied  with  the  situation.  But  in  spite 
of  all  this  good  news,  the  "  Curia  "  failed  to  pro- 
duce the  red  hats  until  at  length  it  has  dawned 
on  the  bishops  that  aside  from  keeping  American 
cardinals  in  the  background,  Rome  wanted  to  see 
the  color  of  their  money.  So,  it  is  credibly  stated, 
they  sent  over  to  Rome  this  or  last  year  more 
money  than  any  other  country  save  one.  But  why 
should  American  bishops  longer  suffer  such  indig- 
nities ?  It  would  seem  they  can  do  much  better. 
Why  not  come  together,  and  utterly  repudiate,  and 
throw  overboard  this  Roman  despotism,  this  ship 
waterlogged  without  charter  or  compass,  to  be 
avoided  and  abhorred  by  all  nations,  loaded  to  the 
gunwale  with  untruthfulness  and  hypocrisy,  with 
an  undeniable  record  of  base  practices,  pretensions, 
dogmas,  and  creeds  which  should  be  no  longer 
known  of  men,  and  for  decency's  sake  alone,  be 
buried  in  deepest  oblivion.  Why  go  longer  to 
Rome  ?  You  know  the  pope's  claim  to  God-given 
powers  is,  to  express  it  mildly,  a  fatal  mistake. 
Why  throw  away  your  money  to  support  foreign 
cardinals  in  idleness  ?  Why  not  stay  at  home  with 
your  money  and  elect  your  own  pope  and  give  him 
a  salary  large  enough  to  enable  him  to  live  in  a 
dignified  and  proper  manner.  Such  a  man  should 
have  the  respect  of  the  nation.  But,  first  of  all, 
divest  yourselves  of  the  idea  that  your  church  is 


178  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

the  "  divinely  appointed  authority,  to  take  prece- 
dence over  all  other  churches."  You  probably  know 
as  much  about  God,  the  All  Wise  Intelligence,  as 
anybody,  and  that,  it  would  seem,  is  absolutely 
nothing,  the  hollow  pretensions  of  any  church  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding,  or  that  you  and  your 
church  are  above  the  law,  or  have  any  religious 
rights  others  don't  enjoy,  or  that  particular  atten- 
tion should  be  paid  you  on  account  of  your  avoca- 
tion or  the  clothes  you  wear.  Lop  off  and  bury 
as  soon  as  may  be  those  cruel  and  debasing  in- 
ventions, '  penance,"  '  indulgences,"  "  purga- 
tory," and  the  miserable,  soul-destroying  "  confes- 
sional," holding  in  its  toils  the  most  confidential  and 
sacred  interests  of  its  followers,  especially  those 
of  the  women  and  children.  See  "  Council  of 
Trent.  V.  Confession."  The  Universal  Church 
has  always  understood  that  a  full  confession  of 
sins  was  instituted  by  the  Lord  as  a  part  of  the 
sacrament  of  penance,  and  that  it  is  necessary  by 
divine  appointment  for  all  who  sin  after  baptism, 
because  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  when  he  was  about 
to  ascend  into  heaven  left  his  priests  in  his  place  as 
presidents  and  judges,  to  whom  all  mortal  offenses 
into  which  the  faithful  might  fall  should  be  sub- 
mitted, that  they  might  pronounce  sentence  of  re- 
mission or  retention  of  sins  by  the  power  of  the  keys. 
For  this  reason  penitents  are  bound  to  rehearse  in 
confession  all  mortal  sins  —  even  though  they  be  of 
the  most  secret  kind,  etc.  Of  "  penance  " :  v  But 
the  Lord  specially  instituted  the  sacrament  of 
*  penance '  when  he  breathed    on    Ins    disciples, 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  179 

'  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost. '  "  Of  * '  indulgences ' ' : 
"  Since  the  power  of  granting  indulgences  has  been 
bestowed  by  Christ  upon  his  church  the  holy  council 
teaches  that  '  indulgences,'  so  salutary  to  Christian 
people,  shall  be  retained  by  the  church."  Of  "  pur- 
gatory": "Since  the  Catholic  Church,  instructed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  hath  taught  there  is  a  purgatory, 
that  the  souls  detained  there  are  assisted  by  the 
acceptable  sacrifice  of  the  '  mass,'  this  holy 
council  commands  it  be  everywhere  taught  and 
preached."  Would  it  not  be  difficult  to  find  else- 
where an  equal  number  of  words  containing  an 
equal  number  of  deliberately  planned,  barefaced 
untruths?  What  blasphemy!  "Necessary  by 
divine  appointment,"  "  the  Lord  specially  insti- 
tuted," '  the  church  instructed  by  the  Holy 
Spirit."  There  is  nothing  of  religion  in  such 
teachings,  born  in  1545  and  practised  to  this  day. 
Is  not  money  received  directly  or  indirectly  under 
such  false  teachings  robbery  pure  and  simple? 
The  "  mass."  Of  all  the  artifices  of  cunning  and 
venality  to  extort  money  from  credulous  weak- 
ness there  is  none  so  potential  as  a  "  mass  "  for 
the  benefit  of  the  souls  in  purgatory.  A  contract 
between  the  Almighty  and  His  agent  and  vice 
gerent  on  earth  (the  pope)  is  established.  The 
"  Virgin  Mary.  '  The  doctrine  of  the  immaculate 
conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  in  December,  1854, 
by  Pope  Pius  IX,  revived  the  shocking  profanity  of 
the  rosary  of  the  Blessed  St.  Anne,  mother  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  The  pope's  encyclical  letter  of 
December,  1864,  says,  "  The  Virgin  Mary  knows 


180  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

nothing  which  she  cannot  obtain  from  the  sove- 
reign master,  sitting  as  a  queen  on  the  right  hand 
of  her  Son,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."     "I  salute  thee! 
O  great  Mediatrix  of  peace  between  man  and  God. 
All  the  three  divine  persons  concurred  to  crown  thee 
at  thy  glorious  ascension  to  the  heavens,  and  then 
there  was  conferred  on  thee  absolute  power  over 
all  created  in  heaven  and  earth."     And  not  satisfied 
with  this  insult  to  all  who  possess  any  claim  to 
reason  or  honesty,  this  same  Pope  Pius  IX  sum- 
moned the  church  dignitaries  to  what  is  known  as 
the  Vatican  Council,  in  1870.     Present  719;    541 
of  these  belonged  to  Europe.     July  18,  1870,  the 
number  was  reduced  to  535,  when  lo,  after  much 
bickering  and  discord,  they  decreed  he  was  infal- 
lible in  "  faith  and  morals,"  and  thus  ended  the 
greatest  absurdity  of  modern  times.     This  impo- 
tent   and  impertinent  attempt  to  force  upon  our 
people  the  preposterous  pretensions  of  the  dark 
ages,  the  repudiated  dogmas  of  a  packed  council 
of    247    gentlemen    three    centuries    ago    are    not 
adapted  to  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world,  who 
lono>    ago    detected    the    fraud    founded    on    such 
monstrosities,  and  no  longer  believed  them  indis- 
pensable to  its  welfare.     The  church  now  says: 
"  Civil  government  is  only  the  subordinate  depart- 
ment of  government.     The  people  are  subject  to  a 
higher  law,  to  a  higher  sovereign  than  the  state. 
It  belongs,  then,  as  representative  of  the  highest 
authority  on  earth  that  it  determine  when  resistance 
is  proper,  and  to  prescribe  its  form  and  extent." 
When  this  commands,  it  is  our  duty  to  obey.      All 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  181 

power  inheres  in  the  pope.  Education  must  be 
moulded  to  his  views.  The  judgments  of  Rome, 
even  when  not  on  faith  and  morals,  claim  acqui- 
escence and  obedience  under  pain  of  sin  and  loss 
of  the  Catholic  profession.  "  The  opinion  that 
'  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  worship  is  the  right 
of  every  man  '  is  not  only  an  erroneous  opinion, 
but  very  hurtful  to  the  safety  of  the  church,"  says 
the  pope,  December  8,  1864,  in  his  encyclical  letter. 
It  is  in  vain  to  close  our  eyes  against  the  secret 
designs  and  plottings  of  this  system,  the  greatest 
financial  trust  that  ever  existed.  A  close  corpora- 
tion, paying  regular  and  large  dividends  to  stock- 
holders who  never  paid  a  dollar  for  their  holdings, 
and  assume  no  responsibilities  to  state  or  nation. 
The  struggle  in  our  country  is  upon  the  assertion 
and  denial,  and  the  attempted  enforcement  and 
resistance  of  such  claims  as  these.  Such  is  this 
religious  "  system,"  the  very  foundations  of  which 
are  laid  in  despotism  of  the  most  absolute  and 
revolting;  forms,  the  fruits  of  which  for  centuries 
have  been  ignorance,  superstition,  degradation, 
and  vice,  a  "  system  '  which  uses  divinity  as  a 
screen  to  hide  its  lust  for  greed  and  power  and 
makes  an  infamous  traffic  of  religion.  Its  fangs 
are  already  fastened  on  our  body  politic  and  its 
votes  given  for  a  consideration.  Witness  the 
number  of  Catholics  appointed  in  the  departments 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  abroad,  during  the 
past  seven  years;  whose  votes  elected  the  last  two 
presidents!  The  Catholics.  Wlio  in  the  past  is 
said   to   hrave  received   four  fifths  of  the  money 


182  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

appropriated  for  Indian  schools?     The  Catholics. 
Who  watch  with  argus  eyes  all  attempted  legisla- 
tion  at   Washington,    and   have   their   emissaries 
about   the    house    and    senate,    and   who    largely 
control   the  press   of  the  larger  cities,   whenever 
desired  ?    The   Catholics.     The  Roman  priests  and 
friars  have  constantly  interfered  in  all  the  civil 
affairs    of    nations.     Their    professed    subjection 
to  the  laws  is  nullified  by  their  more  selfish  engage- 
ments to  promote  the  privilege  of  the  popedom. 
Popery    supersedes  all  rational  inquiry,  extirpates 
private  judgment,  admits  neither  doubt  nor  altera- 
tion.    Whoever    joins    that    church    forfeits    his 
moral  and  mental  freedom;    deny  this  if  you  will. 
The  history  of  Europe  prior  to  and  since  the  refor- 
mation demonstrates  that  it  is  impossible  for  man- 
kind to  enjoy  peace  as  long  as  the  pontifical  power 
is   tolerated.     When   the   leaders   of   the   Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  awake  to 
the  proven  facts,  viz.,     First,  Romanism  is  a  de- 
ception because  it  claims  to  have  been  built  on  St. 
Peter,  in  Rome,  when  there  is  not  a  scintilla  of 
evidence  he  ever  saw  Rome.     Second,  Romanism 
is  a  proven  fraud,  because  it  pretends  to  have  power 
which  does  not  belong  to  it.    Third,  Romanism  is  a 
proven  fraud  because  it  claims  to  be  in  line  with 
apostolic  succession,  when  there  have  been  at  least 
thirty  schisms  in  the  church.     Many  popes  have 
been  ejected  from  office  and  all  claiming  St.  Peter's 
chair  at  the  same  time,  which  fact  alone  destroys 
their  impious  infallibility  and  of  the  boasted  succes- 
sion from  Peter.    Fourth,  that  the  impious  practice 


Teachings  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  183 

and  double  dealing  of  this  church  are  no  longer 
to  be  suffered  and  endured  by  the  leading  intelligent 
nations  of  the  world  who  have  now  discovered  its 
practices,  and  will  surely  overcome  its  pretensions, 
if  only  for  self  protection.  Let  the  leaders  of  the 
church  in  this  country  not  only  realize  but  recognize 
this  truth,  and  come  out  into  the  open,  tell  their 
parishioners  the  whole  truth,  of  the  despotism  and 
depravity  of  Rome;  that  they  will  no  longer  wor- 
ship or  be  subject  to  any  foreign  pope  or  power; 
that  many  degrading  and  objectionable  features 
of  the  service  now  ordered  by^Rome  are  to  be  done 
away  with;  that  you  propose  henceforth  to  worship 
God,  the  Divine  Creator,  and  not  a  man.  Then  will 
you  and  your  worship  and  in  many  respects  beau- 
tiful service,  have  the  respect  of  the  world,  the 
additional  love  and  affection  of  your  followers,  and 
the  friction  and  contention  with  the  nation  for 
power  and  personal  aggrandizement  be  done  away 
with.  Then  will  the  thousands  of  priests  now 
writhing  in  mental  and  spiritual  bondage,  and  only 
awaiting  the  signal,  throng  to  your  standard  and 
hail  you  as  their  emancipators  and  spiritual  de- 
liverers. Are  you  afraid  to  take  the  leap?  Re- 
member, that  the  great  law  of  compensation,  as 
certain  in  its  course  as  planets  moving  in  space, 
is  ever  present,  protects  and  provides  for  all  workers 
in  the  cause  of  humanity ;  that  those  are  cheques 
God  cashes  at  sight,  and  that  truth  in  the  end  will 
prevail.  Should  the  contest  continue  twenty-five 
or  fifty  years,  you  will,  in  spite  of  your  apparently 
flourishing  condition,  be  driven  to  the  wall.     For 


184  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

the  education  of  the  twenty  or  more  millions  of 
children  in  our  public  schools  is  the  death  knell 
of  Roman  despotism  in  this  country,  and  here 
with  the  emancipation  of  millions  of  Catholics  it 
finds  a  grave. 


A  REPLY  TO  CARDINAL  GIBBONS'S 
"THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    REPUBLIC" 

AN  article  of  great  interest  appeared  in  the 
March  number,  1909,  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Review,  "  The  Church  and  the  Re- 
public," written  by  Cardinal  Gibbons,  a 
gentleman  holding  a  prominent  position  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  who  has  been  instru- 
mental in  many  good  works,  and  through  a  long 
life  identified  with  the  church,  its  teachings,  and 
practices  both  here  and  abroad;  with  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  both,  a  ready  pen,  power  of  analysis 
and  capacity  for  special  pleading,  he  stands  easily 
the  foremost  and  most  prominent  figure  in  our 
country  now  holding  a  commission  from  Rome, 
and  as  a  defender  of  the  teachings  and  practices  of 
what  is  known  as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has 
no  superior.  With  a  wise,  astute,  comprehensive 
intellect,  straightforward  and  fearless  in  expressing 
his  highest  sense  of  right  and  duty,  with  a  kindly 
spirit  for  all  humanity  and  a  desire  that  the  world 
should  share  with  him  the  consolation  of  religious 
teachings  enjoyed  from  early  life  to  the  now  de- 
clining years,  he,  like  most  of  us,  holds  tenaciously  to 
early  teachings  until  something  else  displaces  them. 
For  the  gentleman  personally  I  can  have  no  ani- 
mosity, but  on  the  contrary  great  respect  and  the 
most  kindly  feeling,  and  in  replying  to  the  various 

185 


186  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

matters  mentioned  in  the  article  referred  to,  if  the 
language  used  should  be  plain  and  outspoken, 
it  will  be  to  emulate  him,  if  possible,  in  candor,  to 
say  that  my  reply  is  directed,  rather  to  the  organ- 
ization he  represents,  with  no  sinister  object, 
realizing  the  difficulty  of  presenting  this  matter 
without  seeming  prejudice,  and  with  a  hope  it 
may  give  no  offense. 

Before  touching  upon  the  article  in  question, 

it  may  be  of  interest  to  first  inquire  as  to  the  past 

history  and  present  workings  of  what  is  called  the 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  of  which  little  is  known 

by  the  masses.     In  view  of  the  growth  of  this 

organization  in  America  in  the  past  fifty  years,  its 

increasing  political  power,  and  recent  demands  for 

recognition,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  go  back  on  the 

lines,  to  ascertain  who  and  where  the  managers 

of   this    foreign    organization    are,    who,    through 

obedient  American  appointees  dependent  on  them 

for  their  positions  and  salaries,  claim  to  exercise 

authority  over  certain  cities  in  our  country  and 

without  attending  responsibility.     From  the  first 

announcement  of  a  self-made  pope  — Boniface  III, 

who  obtained  the  supremacy  from  Phocas,  A.D. 

604,    after    the    latter    had    murdered    Emperor 

Mauritius  and  all  his  family  —  to  this  time,  it  is 

claimed  its  advocates  have  treated  the  world  to  one 

unbroken  series  of  suppression,  misrepresentation, 

and  false  statements  as  to  its  claimed  rights  and 

authority  now  maintained  for  the  benefit  of  Rome 

and  its  army  of  followers,  whose/power  and  position 

depends  on  their  servility  and  obedience  to  orders 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         187 

from  Rome.  The  Curia,  or  sacred  college  at 
Rome,  manages  the  church  affairs  in  its  own  ex- 
clusive interest,  which  the  ignorance  of  the  people 
can  neither  abolish  nor  control.  It  claims,  as 
recently  demonstrated  in  France,  and  in  every 
other  country  where  it  has  dared  to  assert  itself, 
to  stand  as  an  independent  authority,  above  the 
nation,  as  a  whole,  and  opposing  the  exercise  of 
the  vital  powers  on  which  national  growth  depends, 
superior  to  all  laws  and  free  from  all  constitutions. 
Its  chief  aim  is  and  has  been  in  the  past  to  keep 
the  people  in  mental  subjection  to  a  small  body  of 
self-appointed  rulers  who  are  above,  and  not 
subject  to,  public  control.  The  common  appella- 
tion pope  has  been  restricted  to  the  Roman 
pontiff  since  Boniface.  As  is  doubtless  known  to 
most  readers,  popes  make  cardinals  and  cardinals 
make  popes.  The  latter  are  used  by  the  Curia, 
or  sacred  college,  to  frighten  the  ignorant  and 
carry  out  their  secret  designs  for  power  and  gold. 
I  have  no  desire  to  again  go  into  the  history  of  the 
lives  of  the  various  popes.  The  evidence  con- 
tained in  the  preceding  pages  is  quite  sufficient  for 
all  practical  purposes,  but,  as  throwing  some 
light  on  one  of  these  personages,  I  quote  a  few 
sentences  from  tlie  letter  of  the  late  Bishop  M.  D. 
Talleyrand  to  Pope  Pius  VII. 

"  Should  we  now  look  over  a  list  of  all  the  popes  from  Peter, 
the  fisherman,  to  our  own  times,  we  would  discover  that  the 
first  half  of  them  were  beggars  and  impostors,  who  were  only 
anxious  to  lead  a  life  of  idleness  and  pleasure  under  the  mask 
of  sanctity  and  assumed  abnegation,  whilst  the  other  half 


188  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

were  notorious  intriguers,  whose  lives  were  spent  in  the  per- 
petration of  the  most  heinous  crimes,  and  who  were  followed 
to  their  graves  by  the  curses  and  imprecations  of  the  whole 
population.  Truth,  however,  bids  me  draw  a  line  between 
these  monsters  and  the  wise  and  immortal  Ganganelli,  the 
first  and  only  one  who  ever  permitted  philosophy  to  enter 
into  the  Vatican.  He  often  expressed  the  sorrow  he  felt  in 
countenancing  the  imposition  of  those  ignorant  men  who  first 
promulgated  the  Christian  religion,  deplored  the  horrible 
evils  caused  by  the  selfish  policy  of  the  popes,  grieved  at  the 
criminal  traffic  of  the  priesthood,  at  their  total  disregard  of 
truth,  and  their  efforts  to  impede  the  progress  of  knowledge, 
that  they  might  keep  mankind  in  the  eternal  bondage  of 
slavery.  He  would  say,  '  No  human  being  in  Europe  has, 
either  physically  or  morally,  suffered  as  I  have.  Confined 
within  the  walls  of  a  convent,  I  was  threatened  with  all  the 
horrors  of  a  dungeon  if  I  did  not  clothe  myself  with  the 
garments  of  religion  and  hypocrisy,  and  did  not  abjure 
nature  and  my  own  species.  My  docility,  frankness,  and 
disinterestedness  and  large  fortune  procured  me  the  good 
opinion  of  Cardinal  Ostali,  who  obtained  in  the  Conclave  a 
majority  of  votes  in  my  favor,  and  I  was  invested  with 
the  purple  robes  and  seated  upon  the  throne  as  head  of  the 
church.  The  world  knows  how  reluctantly  I  accepted  the 
situation.  I  then  resolved  to  overthrow  Christianity,  that  is 
to  say,  idolatry,  but  watched  by  the  sleepless  eyes  of  the 
thousand  Arguses,  and  always  surrounded  by  the  apostles 
of  error,  I  hoped  the  time  might  soon  come  to  execute  this 
important  reform.  Obliged  to  assume  a  contemptible 
authority,  I  really  blush  to  appear  in  Rome,  in  Italy,  or  even 
in  Europe.  I  feel  no  less  shame  at  the  incense  which  a 
crapulous  superstition  lays  at  my  feet  and  at  the  homage  paid 
to  me  as  if  I  were  a  living  idol.  I  feel  that  the  public  opinion 
looks  upon  me  as  the  trustee  and  dispenser  of  heavenly  gifts, 
the  living  oracle  of  a  fabled  God.     But,  alas!   I  know  that  I 


a 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         189 


am  only  a  weak  mortal  with  limited  facilities  of  precarious 
existence.     How,  then,  can  I  pretend  to  foresee  the  future,  to 
send  some  of  my  fellow  creatures  to  heaven,  and  others  to 
hell  ?     How  can  I  wish  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  representa- 
tive of  divinity,  when  I  know  nothing  of  such  a  being,  although 
lost  in  admiration  at  the  magnificence  of  the  universe  and 
existence  of  man  ?     You   are  perfectly  aware,  my  friends, 
that  the  pope  is  the  passive  creature  of  the  College  of  Cardi- 
nals, who  create  and  annihilate  him  at  pleasure.     Though 
we  are  supposed  to  rule  everything  on  earth,  we  are,  neverthe- 
less, kept  in  the  most  abject  slavery  by  this  dreaded  and  mys- 
terious power  whose  revenge  is  sure  to  reach  any  pope  who 
may  have  thoughtlessly   wounded   its  pride   or  endangered 
its  temporal  welfare.      In  public  the  pope  is  the  idol  of  the 
tumultuous   rabble,  but   in  the  mysterious  recesses   of   the 
Vatican  this  very  pope  who  has  in    one   hand  the  keys  of 
heaven  and  in  the  other  the  thunderbolt  of  excommunication 
is  a  mere  automaton,  a  passive  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the 
cardinals  forming  the  sacred  college.     The  state  revenues 
raised  in  Catholic  countries  by  imposition,  mendacity,  and 
monopolies  are  divided  among  the  cardinals,  as  plunder  is 
divided  among  robbers;  only  a  small  share  goes  to  the  pope, 
who  has  to  provide  for  all  the  expenses  of  the  court,  and  that 
tool  of  tyranny,  a  soldier.     A  pope,  like  every  king,  is  a  mere 
shadow,  conjured  up  by  a  powerful  body  of  men.     It  is  an 
idol  they  raise  to  frighten  a  credulous  and  ignorant  populace, 
and  well  do  they  succeed  in  their  divine  phantasmagoria,  for 
it  enables  these  designing  impostors  to  oppress  the  people 
with  the  iron  scepter  of  superstition.     Such,  my  friends,  are 
the  effects  of  a  system  which  was  invented  only  to  degrade 
mankind  and  to  retain  the  masses  in  the  gross  slumber  of 
ignorance    and    error.'     Whilst  engaged  in  bringing  about 
reforms,  the  basest  of  cardinals  contrived  to  have  a  subtle 
poison  mixed  with  his  food.     He  died  an  unnatural  death 
by  a  sacrilegious  and  parricidal  hand.     The  day  of  retribu- 
tion will  surely  arrive." 


190  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Talleyrand  says  further,  "  Who  gave  you  (pope) 
the  privilege  of  calling  yourself  the  vice  gerent  of 
God  ?  Ignorant  and  credulous  men  have  made  you 
what  you  are,  a  puppet  in  the  sacred  drama  of 
religion,  to  be  scorned  and  avoided  by  the  reflecting 
portion  of  mankind,  execrated  by  all  who  possess 
any  claim  to  reason,  honesty,  and  philosophy. 
Who  suffered  you  to  avail  yourself  of  the  credulity 
of  the  many  and  to  deceive  them  with  the  most 
barefaced  impudence  ?  I  charge  you  with  being  a 
traitor  to  the  people's  rights,  affecting  magnanimity 
in  public  and  clinging  to  every  vestige  of  power." 
The  pope  is  influential  simply  because  of  his 
power  outside  of  Rome  with  the  ignorant  masses, 
whose  money  builds  all  the  churches  and  cathe- 
drals and  supports  the  army  of  bishops  and  priests, 
pope,  and  cardinals. 

But  I  forbear.  The  purpose  of  the  foregoing 
is  simply  to  once  more  get  into  the  atmosphere 
of  popes,  to  hold  them  up  where  one  can  get  a 
good  look  at  them  and  their  lives,  and  learn  of 
their  pretended  claims;  who  manages  them,  who 
dictates  the  encyclical  letters,  what  small  coterie 
of  men  in  Rome,  using  this  pope  as  a  tool,  issue 
orders  to  American  subjects,  through  American 
bishops  and  priests,  which  are  obeyed.  To  lay  bare 
the  facts  to  our  people  that  the  bishops  and  priests 
in  our  country  holding  commissions  from  Rome, 
on  which  their  power  and  bank  account  depends, 
are  the  men  who  uphold  this  small  coterie  of  pre- 
tenders in  Rome,  and  are  the  real  power,  the 
workers,  the  money  gatherers  for  the    'system." 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic"         191 

The  men  who  are  going  to  influence  voters  now 
and   in   the    future    will   sooner  or  later  meddle 
with  the  affairs    of    our   government,   just   as  in 
Mexico,    where    after    three   centuries   of   untold 
suffering,   they  hold    over    four    hundred  million 
dollars'  worth  of  property  wrung  from  the  poor. 
But  to  return  to  the  article  of    Cardinal  Gib- 
bons, "  The  Church  and  the  Republic."     However 
specious  and  unsupported  his  views  may  be,  it 
would  be  a  mistake  to  dismiss  them  with  a  smile. 
To    escape    Rome     and     priestly    influence     the 
Puritans  came  to  New  England,  and  on  Plymouth 
Rock  built  an  altar  to  liberty.     It  is  humiliating 
beyond  all  language  to  observe  that  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  American  republic,  founded  to  con- 
tradict the  tyrannies  and  fanaticism  of  ages  that 
are  dead,  stand  the  representatives  of  the  pope, 
and  that  it  holds  within  its  borders  leaders  and 
representatives  of  the  darkest  religious  fallacy  of 
the  past.     I  quote  from  the  article  in  question. 
"  Fifteen  millions  of  Catholics  live  in  our  land  with 
undisturbed  belief  in  the  perfect  harmony  existing 
between  their  religion  and  their  duties  as  American 
citizens.     It  never  occurs  to  their  minds  to  question 
the  truth  of  a  belief  which  all  their  experience 
confirms.     They   prefer  its   form   of  government 
before  any  other  and  can  with  a  clear  conscience 
swear  to  uphold  it."     If  loyal  Catholics,  how  is 
this  to  be  reconciled  with  the  fact  that  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  has,  again  and  again  for  centuries, 
down  to  the  present  day,  officially  denounced  as 
wholly  wrong  and  as  things  to  be  tolerated  only 


192  The  Roman  CatJwlic  Church 

so  long  as  they  cannot  be  changed,  the  complete 
separation  of  church  and  state,  full  religious 
liberty,  freedom  of  conscience,  of  speech,  of  the 
press,  and  that,  moreover,  it  proclaims  its  teachings 
and  principles  to  be  unchangeable?  And  how 
many  know  anything  of  the  real  truth  of  the  belief 
their  experience  confirms  ? 

I  quote,  "  They  have  a  deep  distrust  and  strong 
dislike  of  the  intermeddling  of  the  state  with  the 
concerns  of  religion,  and  such  a  restriction  as  the 
church  was  obliged  to  endure  in  France,  binding 
the  pope  to  choose  Catholic  bishops  only  from 
among  the  candidates  presented  to  him  by  unbe- 
lieving government  officials,  seems  to  them  —  not 
fully  appreciating  the  difficulties  of  the  situation 
— a  scandal  and  a  shame." 

Perhaps  the  following  may  throw  some  light 
and  serve  to  refresh  the  memory  on  this  matter. 

From  the  publishers  of  all  M.  Sabatier's  works,  the 
Librairie  Fischbacher,  Paris,  we  now  have  a  smaller  but 
hardly  less  remarkable  volume.  It  is  a  reply  to  the  pro- 
nouncement by  Cardinal  Gibbons  in  January  publicly  criti- 
cising the  new  law  in  France,  popularly  known  as  the  law 
separating  church  and  state.  According  to  the  published 
report,  his  Eminence  charged  (1)  that  the  chiefs  of  the  present 
French  government  were  inspired  by  hatred  of  religion; 
(2)  that  they  had  no  regard  for  church  property  rights ;  (3) 
that  the  new  law  entirely  ignored  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church's  constitution  and  laws;  (4)  that  if  that  church  should 
accept  the  Separation  Law,  she  must  expect  to  disappear  be- 
cause of  the  law's  natural  effect;  (5)  that  if  the  separation  of 
church  and  state  in  France  were  of  no  more  significance  than 
in  America,  there  would  not  be  such  an  uproar;  finally  (6) 


1  The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         193 

that  he  had  too  much  confidence  in  the  French  nation  to 
believe  that  it  would  not  rise  against  those  government  chiefs 
who  were  endeavoring  to  destroy  religion.  According  to 
M.  Sabatier,  to  prove  the  hatred  of  the  government  for  religion 
there  were  only  the  words  spoken  by  M.  Viviani,  a  cabinet 
member;  the  immediate  adverse  comment  on  these  words  in 
France  showed  their  extraordinary  character.  For,  as  the 
Jesuit  Father  Abt  declares,  those  who  would  destroy  all 
churches  and  all  religion  are  only  an  infinitesimal  minority 
in  France.  As  to  church  property,  M.  Sabatier  protests  that 
not  a  single  word  in  the  Concordat  (between  France  and  the 
Vatican,  in  force  for  a  century,  but  now  abrogated)  shows 
the  salaries  paid  by  the  government  to  the  clergy  to  have  been 
a  sort  of  compensation  in  return  for  property  confiscated 
during  the  French  Revolution.  Moreover,  the  pope  could 
have  prevented  the  return  of  the  property  to  the  state  by  accepting 
the  new  law,  as  a  majority  of  the  bishops  wished  him  to  do. 
As  to  an  American's  pride  in  the  separation  of  church  and 
state  here,  one  has  but  to  read  the  pope's  bull  to  see  that  he 
absolutely  ("  Vehementer,"  says  M.  Sabatier)  condemns  such 
separation.  If  the  Holy  See  supports  it  in  America,  adds  the 
critic,  it  means  a  forced  and  provisory  toleration. 

Paris,  September  28.  The  Gaulous  to-day  printed  an 
interview  which  its  correspondent  at  Rome  had  with  the  pope 
on  the  Church  and  State  Separation  Law,  during  which  the 
pontiff  is  quoted  as  saying: 

'  It  is  not  I  who  condemned  the  law,  but  Christ,  of  whom 
the  pope  is  simply  the  vicar.  The  Saviour  granted  the 
church  a  constitution  and  a  doctrine  against  which  no  human 
law  can  prevail.  The  Separation  Law  is  contrary  to  Catholic 
doctrines  and  opposed  to  divine  rulings,  is  an  unjust  law  and 
therefore  carries  no  obligations  to  obey  it. 

"Here  is  the  law  of  1881  governing  public  assemblages. 
All  the  French  people  have  observed  this  law  until  now  the 
pope  tells  the  clergy:  'You  will  not  recognize  this  law. 
You  will  violate  it  immediately.' 


194  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

"All  who  were  inclined  to  obey  the  law  will  now  disregard 
it  and  bow  under  Rome's  order.  Is  not  that  a  startling 
proof  that  aside  from  the  regular  authority  of  the  country 
there  is  another  power  seeking  to  usurp  the  law?  That  is 
a  condition  that  cannot  endure." 

Exactly  the  same  conflict  occurred  before  the 
war  when  the  old  slave-owning  aristocracy  (which 
every  one  now  acknowledges  to  have  been  wrong) 
was  defending  itself  and  the  institution  upon  which 
its  existence  depended.  The  old  slave-owning 
aristocrats  believed  that  they  were  made  of  finer 
clay  than  the  "  poor  whites,"  that  their  rule  was 
peculiarly  beneficent,  that  if  anything  should 
happen  to  depose  them,  the  country  would  go  to  ruin 
and  destruction.  It  was  the  old,  old  conviction, 
common  to  kings  and  oligarchies,  that  they  were 
possessed  of  a  divine  right,  a  special  and  perpetual 
franchise  from  God. 

This  flimsy  pretext  of  divine  prerogative  and 
papal  authority  would  long  ago  have  failed  of  its 
mission,  but  for  the  many  accessories,  additions, 
and  cunning  devices,  the  "  system  "  has  resorted 
to  in  order  to  secure  money  and  power.  The 
declaration,  "that  the  Saviour  granted  the  church 
a  constitution  and  doctrine  against  which  no 
human  law  can  prevail  "  has  served  its  purpose  in 
the  past,  but  such  hollow  pretensions  find  no  place 
with  the  intelligence  of  the  twentieth  century, 
especially  when  it  seeks  its  use  in  violation  of  the 
law.  France  wants  and  gives  religious  equality. 
Rome  demands  religious  ascendency,  and  allows 
neither  toleration  nor  equality  where  it  predom- 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic"         195 

inates.  France  wants  peace,  with  religious  free- 
dom. Rome  does  not  want  it,  orders  the  bishops  to 
obey  him,  and  refuses  religious  freedom  accorded 
all  denominations.  In  our  country  there  is  an  in- 
creasing disposition  on  the  part  of  foreigners  to 
defy  lawful  authority.  A  very  large  proportion  of 
ignorant  Catholics,  now  here,  or  recently  swarming 
to  our  shores,  accept  the  "  faith,"  without  capacity 
for  reasoning,  and  obey  its  commands  without 
flinching.  Under  such  conditions,  and  in  view  of 
the  perfectly  plain  determination  of  Rome  to  assert 
authority  and  govern,  our  people  may  well  say, 
what  hope  is  there  for  the  upbuilding  of  a  great 
nation,  with  swarms  of  ignorant  or  other  voters 
ready  to  do  the  bidding  of  a  foreign  effete  mon- 
archy ? 

As  shown  by  this  newspaper  clipping,  a  Catholic 
organization  in  our  country,  said  to  number  six  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  sends  the  following  message 
of  sympathy  to  Rome: 

New  Haven,  December  26.  The  Knights  of  Columbus, 
through  Supreme  Knight  Edward  L.  Hearn,  to-day  sent  a 
message  to  the  pope  at  Rome  assuring  him  of  the  sympathy 
of  the  knights  in  the  trouble  in  France.  The  cablegram  read 
as  follows : 

Cardinal  Merry  Del  Val,  Vatican,  Rome,  Italy: 

The  Knights  of  Columbus  of  America  sympathize  with 
his  Holiness  in  his  efforts  to  adjust  the  difficulties  of  the 
Church  in  France  and  assure  him  of  filial  and  loyal  devotion. 

Edward  L.  Hearn, 

Supreme  Knight. 


196  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Are  these  a  part  of  the  "  fifteen  millions  of 
Catholics  you  refer  to,  who  live  their  lives  in  our 
land  with  undisturbed  belief  in  the  perfect  harmony 
existing  between  their  religion  and  their  duties  as 
American  citizens,"  who  now  assure  the  pope 
"  their  filial  and  loyal  devotion  '  in  his  ordering 
bishops  and  priests  not  to  obey  the  civil  laws  of 
France  and  which  orders,  from  the  pope,  they,  the 
bishops,  obeyed?  Are  these,  with  yourself,  the  men 
(who  obey  the  pope  "  in  everything  except  what  is 
sinful  ")  our  government  can  rely  upon  when,  with 
voting  powers  and  political,  authority  largely  in- 
creased, Rome  sends  orders  to  American  bishops, 
as  in  France  ?  You  must  either  obey  or  refuse,  and 
if  the  latter,  judging  from  the  experience  of  others, 
you  know  certain  as  fate  your  head  goes  in  the 
basket.  These  are  no  idle  words,  as  conditions 
our  government  is  to  meet  in  the  future  will  prove. 

In  an  article  by  "  C,"  New  York  Sun,  December 
15,  he  says,  "  Cardinal  Gibbons  is  mistaken  in  his 
theory  that  the  French  government  is  raging  against 
religion.  The  new  law  doesn't  touch  dogma  at  all. 
The  French  regard  the  present  issue  as  simply 
whether  a  foreign  monarch  shall  reign  over  France 
equally  with  its  republican  government."  The 
wording  of  the  Encyclical  Gravissimo,  from  Rome, 
August  10,  1906,  was  a  deliberate  and  studied  equi- 
vocation. It  did  not  state  the  reverse  of  the  truth, 
but  gave  it  to  be  understood.  In  a  nutshell,  this  was 
an  attempt  on  the  part  of  Rome,  with  certain  co- 
conspirators in  France,  to  break  up  and  destroy 
the  republican  form  of  government,  substituting 


a 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         197 


therefor  a  monarchy.  The  '  church '  has  left 
no  stone  unturned  to  misrepresent  to  citizens  of 
the  United  States  the  real  condition  of  religious 
affairs  in  France.  The  reason  why  France  named 
its  Catholic  bishops  was  because  she  caught 
certain  men  in  authority  engaged,  red  handed,  in 
a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the  government.  There- 
fore, those  Catholics  in  our  country  '  who,  not 
fully  appreciating  the  difficulties  of  the  situation," 
need  no  longer  consider  it  a  '  scandal  and  a 
shame  '  that  the  French  government  should  rise 
in  its  wrath  and  punish  the  offenders,  assert  its 
authority  to  make  laws,  and  govern  its  people 
irrespective  of  the  fulminations  and  edicts  of  a 
small  band  of  Roman  cardinals. 

As  to  any  Catholic  filling  the  chair  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  it  seems  hardly 
logical  that  any  candidate  for  that  position  be- 
lieves in  and  is  loyal  to  a  pope,  who,  as  has  re- 
cently been  proved,  claims  to  be  above  all  laws, 
who  refuses  to  recognize  and  obey  the  civil  laws 
of  governments,  when  able  to  assert  itself,  who 
believes  in  a  pope  who  says  that  any  legislation  of 
governments  'k  contrary  to  what  are  called  Catholic 
doctrines,  and  which  are  opposed  to  divine  rulings, 
carry  no  obligations  to  obey."  A  pope  who  ex- 
punges the  right  of  private  examination  and  judg- 
ment on  all  literary,  moral,  and  religious  topics, 
who  prohibits  liberty  of  mind,  speech,  and  writing, 
who  is,  and  always  has  been,  the  implacable  foe  of 
education,  science,  and  reason,  and  who  dares  to 
reject  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  affirming 


198  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

the  equality  and  rights  of  man,  who  says,  "  You 
must  obey  God  rather  than  man,"  by  which  is 
meant,  you  are  to  accept  our  theory  as  God's 
command.  Such  a  candidate  would  hardly  be 
acceptable  to  the  majority  of  our  citizens,  who 
recognize  no  such  authority,  divinely  claimed  or 
otherwise,  ours  being  a  government  of  laws. 

I  quote,  (  We  may  put  aside,  then,  as  an  ab- 
surdity, the  injurious  supposition  that  the  pope 
would  never  interfere  in  purely  civil  affairs.  .  .  . 
So  long  as  these  liberties  under  which  we  have 
prospered  are  preserved  in  their  fulness,  there  is, 
I  assert,  no  danger  of  a  collision  between  the  state 
and  the  Catholic  Church."  A  plain  way  of  saying, 
when  not  '  preserved  in  their  fulness  '  collision 
comes.  So  now  we  should  know  where  we  are 
and  what  to  expect.  Angels  of  Grace  defend  us! 
In  the  whole  history  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
has  it  done  much  else  than  secretly  meddle  and 
interfere  with  the  civil  affairs  of  governments,  and 
been  used  for  political  ends?  In  our  country  it 
claims  no  desire  to  controvert  civil  authority,  and 
for  the  simple  reason,  at  this  moment  it  can't  do 
otherwise.  The  life  of  a  nation,  especially  a 
republic,  depends  to  a  great  degree  on  the  intel- 
ligence of  its  citizens,  who,  in  this  year  of  our  Lord, 
decline  to  be  shackled  or  hampered  by  a  body  of 
foreign  prelates.  In  many  countries  subject  to 
control  of  Rome  in  the  past,  the  days  have  arrived 
when  what  you  term  your  "liberties"  have  not  been 
preserved  in  their  fulness,  but  quite  the  reverse,  as 
is  not  unlikely  to  be  the  case  in  the  future  in  other 


« 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         199 


countries  when  its  citizens  have  suffered  enough 
and  become  better  informed  of  the  secret  history 
and  practices  of  the  "  system  "  in  its  struggle  for 
money  and  temporal  power.  What  then!  Why, 
then,  according  to  the  cardinal,  the  collision 
comes.  Well,  why  not  let  it  come,  if  it  has  to?  The 
sooner  the  better.  This  matter  of  popery  could 
have  been  settled  better  fifty  years  ago  than  now, 
and  better  now  than  in  1960.  I  quote:  "But 
many  Protestants  say,  'We  obey  our  conscience, 
you  obey  the  pope.'  'Yes,  we  obey  the  pope,  for 
our  conscience  tells  us  that  we  ought  to  obey  the 
spiritual  authority  of  the  pope  in  everything  except 
what  is  sinful;  we  believe  in  a  religion  of  authority ', 
which  our  conscience  tells  us  is  our  lawful  guide 
and  teacher  in  its  own  sphere ;  that  no  human  power 
should  come  between  the  human  conscience  and 
duty.' " 

As  Baroness  von  Zedtwitz  (nee  Caldwell,  a 
lady  of  highest  character  and  standing,  socially 
and  intellectually) ,  who,  with  her  sister,  gave  large 
sums  of  money  to  the  church,  and  who  now  re- 
nounces and  repudiates  its  twofold  system,  says,  in 
a  book  entitled,  '  The  Double  Doctrine  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,"  F.  H.  Re  veil  Company,  Pub- 
lishers :  "  The  church  of  Rome  has  never  tolerated  in- 
dividualism amongst  its  members.  It  at  once  affirms 
and  denies  the  individual  conscience  inasmuch  as 
that  conscience  must  ever  be  sought  in  the  dogmas 
and  direction  of  the  Institution,  that  reason  and 
will  are  held  by  the  church  subject  to  her  direction, 
not  only  is  strict  injunction  of  the  scriptures,  under 


200  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

pain  of  eternal  damnation,  but  the  power  of  the 
citizen  to  use  freely  his  rights  in  dealing  with  civic 
matters  is  curtailed  by  Rome  when  not  used  to 
promote  directly  or  indirectly  her  interests."  I 
quote,  "  We  believe  in  a  religion  of  Authority 
which  our  conscience  tells  us  is  our  lawful  guide 
and  teacher  in  its  own  sphere."  In  this  sphere  is 
faith  and  morals.  Faith  is  defined  to  be  a  general 
belief  in  what  the  church  teaches,  and  what  func- 
tions of  life,  I  ask,  don't  fall  within  the  domain  of 
morals?  The  astute  bishops  know  perfectly  well 
that  faith  and  morals  carried  everything  worth 
having.  The  poison  is  concealed  by  the  very  per- 
fection of  Jesuitical  artifice.  Conscience  is  de- 
fined as  the  action  of  consciousness  whereby  it 
recognizes  the  moral  character  of  everything  we 
say  or  do.  As  you  believe  in  the  authority  and  in- 
fallibility of  the  pope  both  in  faith  and  morals,  how 
then  can  your  infallible  pope  do  anything  sinful  for 
you  to  disobey,  and  if  in  Rome  would  you  dare  say 
to  his  face  that  you  questioned  his  infallibility  ? 
Or  are  you  now  talking  to  the  masses  and  to  the 
regret  of  the  thinking  portion  of  our  country? 
Can  you  deny  that  absolute  obedience  is  due  the 
pope  in  faith  and  morals,  at  the  peril  of  salvation  ? 
You  say,  "  Pope  Leo  XIII  says  the  Almighty  has 
appointed  the  charge  of  the  human  race  between 
two  powers,  the  ecclesiastical  and  the  civil,  the  one 
being  set  over  divine,  the  other  over  human  things. 
Each  in  its  kind  is  supreme,  neither  obeys  the  other 
within  the  limits  to  which  each  is  restricted  by  its 
constitution."     Or,  in  other  words,  "the  spiritual 


"  The    Church   and   the   Republic  "        201 

power  knows  with  divine  certainty  the  limits  of  its 
own   and   the   civil  jurisdiction,  and  therefore  in 
matters  of  religion   and  conscience  is  supreme" 
Any  power  that  can  fix  the  limits  of  its  own  and  all 
other  jurisdictions  is  supreme;    and  it  would  seem 
in  the  present  instance,  that  power  is  the  state, 
being  the  power  responsible  for  the  external  order 
of  the  world,  and  alone  competent  to  determine 
what  is  to  take  place  within  its  limits.     Pope  Leo 
XIII  may  have  been  a  cultivated  gentleman,  and 
may  have  said  a  great  many  things  of  interest.     He 
was  but  a  man,  however,  like  the  rest  of  us,  and  his 
putting  words  into  the  mouth  of  Almighty  God,  or 
claiming  to  be  his  agent,  or  to  know  anything  of 
the  Supreme  Being,  which  was  at  one  time  con- 
sidered insulting  to  anybody  of   ordinary  intelli- 
gence, is    now    simply    ludicrous.     The    present 
attempt  to  establish  ecclesiastical  and  civil  limits 
on  such  pretended  authority,  or  the  declaration  of 
any  "  firmly  established  Catholic  teaching  of  dis- 
tinction between  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers," 
that  the  church  has  divine  authority;    is  supreme 
in  the  state  within  certain  limits,  where  the  state 
can't  interfere.     All  these  claims  are  not  tenable, 
won't  carry,  and  are  outlawed.     You  say,  "The 
church  is  bound  to  obey  the  state  in  all  things  that 
don't  contravene  the  moral  law."     Meaning,  the 
pope  is  to  determine  conditions  of  a  state,  and  de- 
cides when  the  moral  law  is  broken.     Such  claim 
is  but  a  concealed  conspiracy  against  the  integrity 
and    intelligence    of    the    state.     The    statement, 
"  That   every  national    Protestant    church   is  the 


202  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

creature  of  the  state,  subject  to  it  in  doctrine, 
ritual,  discipline,  and  government,  which,  with 
dissenting  sects,  with  Protestantism,  has  always 
meant  the  subjection  of  the  church  to  the  state  ' 
is  hardly  correct.  No  such  condition  as  described 
exists,  or  ever  did. 

Let  us  have  this  phase  of  the  question  made 
quite  plain.  You  say,  "  We  owe  full  allegiance 
to  the  civil  authorities  in  matters  which  don't  con- 
travene the  moral  law,"  and,  per  contray  when  in 
the  opinion  of  the  pope  (because  he  decides  it, 
deny  it  as  you  may)  the  law  is  broken,  then  you 
no  longer  obey  the  civil  laws.  Whatever  special 
plea  is  entered  to  befog  the  situation,  it  has  been 
clearly  and  unquestionably  proven,  that  in  France, 
as  in  other  countries  in  the  past,  the  followers  of 
the  church  have  been  called  upon  to  renounce 
allegiance  to  the  civil  government  and  the  laws  of 
their  country  at  the  will  and  pleasure  of  an  eccle- 
siastical authority  (Rome),  and  not  daring  to  do 
otherwise,  they  obeyed.  The  following  news- 
paper clipping  serves  to  prove  the  assertion,  al- 
though sufficiently  proved  already,  viz : 

Bordeaux,  France,  June  14,  1909.  When  Cardinal  An- 
drieu  appeared  in  court  to-day  to  answer  the  summons  of  the 
judge  charging  him  with  having  incited  a  breach  of  the  laws 
by  the  allocution  which  he  pronounced  at  the  cathedral  on 
the  occasion  of  his  enthronement,  he  was  acclaimed  by  an  im- 
mense crowd  of  Catholics. 

The  cardinal  told  the  judge  that  he  came  as  an  act  of 
courtesy  and  not  because  he  recognized  the  competence  of 
the  court.     He  said  he  had  spoken  as  a  bishop  and  that  he 


«< 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         203 


was  answerable  only  to  his  conscience,  the  pope,  and  God, 
and  declared  that  he  assumed  full  responsibility  for  his  words. 

In  this  instance  the  gentleman  in  question  may 
find  the  laws  of  France  more  potent  than  the  laws 
of  the  pope,  and  in  the  end  more  profitable  to  obey 
the  former. 

:  The  only  just  criticism  of  a  judge's  law  must 
come  from  a  court  which  knows  the  law  and  has 
jurisdiction  to  declare  it.  Dissent  from  his  views 
based  on  individual  opinion  of  what  the  law  ought 
to  be,  whether  it  comes  from  executive  or  hoodlum, 
leads  directly  and  by  short  steps  to  anarchy.  The 
assertion  of  individual  will  against  the  settled  law 
betrays,  not  only  ignorance,  but  a  deplorable 
incapacity  to  comprehend  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  American  government."  The  courts  hold 
a  place  of  peculiar  and  deserved  sanctity  under  our 
form  of  government.  Respect  for  the  law  is  essen- 
tial for  the  permanence  of  our  institutions,  and 
respect  for  the  law  is  largely  conditioned  upon 
respect  for  the  courts.  It  is  an  offense  against  the 
republic  to  say  anything  which  can  weaken  this 
respect  save  for  the  gravest  reason  and  in  the  most 
carefully  guarded  manner.  Our  judges  should 
be  held  in  peculiar  honor,  and  the  duty  of  respectful 
and  truthful  criticism,  which  should  be  binding 
when  we  speak  of  anybody,  should  be  especially 
binding  when  we  speak  of  them. 

You  say,  "  You  can  conceive  a  state  passing 
laws  that  would  violate  your  conscientious  con- 
victions, and  that  you,  as  well  as  Protestants,  would 
not  prove  false  to  your  religious  convictions."     In 


204  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

other  words,  and  to  fix  this  idea  firmly  in  the  minds 
of  the  people,  when  orders  come  from  Rome  that 
the  legislation  of  Congress  and  the  states  of  Am- 
erica is  contrary  to  what  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  calls  its  moral  and  divine  teachings  and 
God-given  rights  and  supremacy,  you  would  obey 
Rome  and  refuse  to  recognize  the  sovereignty  of 
the  state  while  enjoying  its  confidence  and  under 
whose  aegis  and  protection  you  have  lived,  flour- 
ished, been  allowed  to  build  houses,  churches, 
monasteries,  convents,  and  other  centers  of  strength 
for  the  upbuilding  of  your  creed  and  financial 
power.  In  our  country,  until  the  present  moment, 
we  have  not  received  an  ultimatum  from  foreign 
prelates,  or  their  agents  and  representatives,  telling 
us  what  laws  our  citizens  are  to  obey  or  disobey. 
This  attempt  to  awe  the  state  and  control  the 
people  is  not  only  resented  and  repudiated,  but,  as 
heretofore,  they  rest  trustingly  in  the  hope  and 
belief  that  all  violators  of  laws  will  be  duly  punished 
as  in  the  past,  irrespective  of  race  or  condition,  and 
every  good  citizen  in  our  state  and  country  should 
take  heed  of  this  bold  assumption,  this  threatened 
intrusion  of  foreign  authority  into  our  homes,  and 
from  this  day  determine  to  pass  laws  forbidding 
any  such  teachings  or  attempted  authority  to  be 
exercised  within  its  limits,  and  see  that  such  laws 
when  enacted  are  vigorously  enforced.  When 
once  you  have  seen,  as  in  Spain,  Italy,  France, 
Ireland,  and  other  foreign  countries,  the  power 
this  organized  body  of  bishops  and  priests  exercises 
over  the  lives  of  the  women,  and  so  of  the  family, 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic  r  205 

you  will  never  allow  this  institution  to  make  you 
its  slave,  nor  hold  your  children  in  mental  bondage, 
nor  permit  any  mitered  head,  in  the  grace  of  God, 
or  divine  right,  to  interpose  his  dark  shadow  be- 
tween you  and  your  Maker.  I  quote,  '  You  say, 
if  the  state  should  forbid  us  Catholics  to  continue 
our  parochial  schools  we  should  resist  to  the  utter- 
most, for  we  hold  that,  while  the  state  has  the  un- 
doubted right  to  compel  her  future  citizens  to  re- 
ceive a  certain  degree  of  education,  she  has  no  right 
to  deprive  them  of  the  daily  religious  influence 
which  we  deem  necessary  for  their  spiritual  and 
eternal  welfare,  as  well  as  for  their  proper  training 
in  the  duties  of  citizenship.  In  any  such  essay  by 
the  state  to  establish  Csesarism,  Catholics  would  not 
think  it  necessary  to  await  instructions  from  any 
source.  We  believe  in  the  sacredness  and  suprem- 
acy of  conscience.  In  a  country  wholly  or  pre- 
dominantly Catholic  the  most  desirable  relation  is 
the  friendly  union  and  co-operation  of  church  and 
state,  neither  power  sacrificing  its  liberty  and  each 
acknowledging  the  other."  As  to  sacredness  of 
conscience  and  friendly  union : 

To  give  a  general  idea  of  the  character  of  the  encyclical 
and  syllabus  issued  by  the  pope  December  8,  1864  (as  given 
in  Butler's  "  Mexico  in  Transition,"  page  197),  and  addressed 
to  all  bishops  throughout  all  the  world,  we  copy  here,  from  an 
able  summary  which  appeared  at  the  time,  some  of  its  leading 
points,  where  the  pope  condemns  in  the  most  unequivocal 
manner  the  foundation  principles  upon  which  our  govern- 
ment rests,  and  which  Mexico  and  the  South  American  states 
had  imitated,  and  against  which  he  calls  up  the  millions  of 
his  followers  in  this  land  to  unite  for  their  overthrow : 


206  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

1.  The  Catholic  Church  ought  freely  to  exercise  until 
the  end  of  time  a  "  salutary  force,  not  only  with  regard  to 
each  individual  man,  but  with  regard  to  nations,  peoples, 
and  their  rulers." 

2.  The  best  condition  of  society  is  that  in  which  the 
power  of  the  laity  is  compelled  to  inflict  the  penalties  of  law 
upon  violators  of  the  Catholic  religion. 

3.  The  opinion  that  "  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  wor- 
ship is  the  right  of  every  man,"  is  not  only  "  an  erroneous 
opinion,  very  hurtful  to  the  safety  of  the  Catholic  Church 
and  of  souls,"  but  is  also  "  delirium." 

4.  Liberty  of  speech  and  the  press  is  "  the  liberty  of 
perdition." 

5.  The  judgments  of  the  Holy  See,  even  when  they  do  not 
speak  of  points  of  faith  and  morals,  claim  acquiescence  and 
obedience,  under  pain  of  sin  and  loss  of  the  Catholic  pro- 
fession. 

6.  It  is  false  to  say  "  that  every  man  is  free  to  embrace 
and  profess  the  religion  he  shall  believe  true,"  or  that  those 
who  "  embrace  and  profess  any  religion  may  obtain  eternal 
salvation." 

7.  The  "  church  has  the  power  of  availing  herself  of 
force,  or  of  direct  or  indirect  temporal  power." 

8.  In  a  legal  conflict  "  between  the  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  powers  "  the  ecclesiastical  "  ought  to  prevail." 

9.  It  is  a  false  and  pernicious  doctrine  that  "  public 
schools  should  be  open  without  distinction  to  all  children  of 
the  people  and  free  from  all  ecclesiastical  authority." 

10.  It  is  false  to  say  that  the  "  principle  of  non-inter- 
vention must  be  proclaimed  and  observed." 

11.  It  "  is  necessary  in  the  'present  day  that  the  Catholic 
religion  shall  be  held  as  the  only  religion  of  the  state,  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  other  modes  of  worship." 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic  '  207 

Alas!  "Friendly  Union  and  sacredness  of  con- 
science '  have  never  found  a  resting  place  in  the 
bosom  of  Rome,  but  this  fact  is  constantly  denied 
and  in  the  face  of  unquestionable  proof  to  the  con- 
trary. 

As  to  "  threatened  resistance  to  the  uttermost 
to  any  future  laws  forbidding  continuance  of  paro- 
chial schools,  and  that  the  state  can't  deprive  her 
citizens  of  religious  influence  we  deem  necessary 
for  their  proper  training  in  the  duties  of  citizen- 
ship." This  open  declaration  of  war  against 
modern  thought,  science,  and  freedom  of  research 
by  the  "  system  "  (Roman  prelates)  through  their 
representatives  here  is  but  a  step  in  the  carefully 
arranged  program  of  Rome  and  is  well  under- 
stood in  America.  To  be  brief  and  to  the  point 
American  public  schools  are  among  the  best  in  the 
world.  Parochial  schools  are  formed,  chiefly, 
to  implant  doctrinal  teachings  firmly  in  the 
mind  of  the  child  at  an  early  age,  and  to 
enable  the  priest  to  secure  and  hold  that  child 
under  his  control  and  later  to  get  his  church  offer- 
ings. Without  doctrinal  teachings  there  would  be 
no  parochial  schools.  The  people  have  borne 
with  patience  the  assaults  of  Rome  on  our  public 
schools,  she  calls  them  "Godless,"  and  gives  this 
as  one  of  the  reasons  why  parochial  schools  exist. 
Of  course  that  furnishes  one  excuse  for  their  ex- 
istence, and  distract  attention,  but  this  is  not  the 
real  one.  Personally,  I  am  opposed  to  teaching 
what  is  called  religion  in  our  public  schools.  It  is 
no  place  for  it.      The  public  has  no  business  to 


208  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

impart  religious  instructions,  besides  it  is  uncon- 
stitutional and  does  not  belong  there.  The  schools 
must  be  absolutely  independent  of  church  control 
and  secular  in  character.  Remove  this  objection 
and  you  are  one  step  nearer  the  settlement  of  this 
question.  The  Catholic  Church  knows  its  very 
life  depends  on  getting  control  of  children  before 
they  are  old  enough  to  know  what  they  want,  and 
instilling  into  their  minds  the  catechism  and  doc- 
trinal teachings.  Such  teachings  are  seldom 
eradicated.  With  this  come  their  '  offerings," 
which  in  this  and  other  countries  amount  to 
millions  annually,  and  without  which  offerings  the 
whole  structure  crumbles  to  dust,  and  the  avoca- 
tion of  bishop  and  priest  is  gone.  Religious  pro- 
fessions and  pretensions  avail  nothing.  Under  the 
wing  of  what  is  called  religion,  with  all  its  claims  of 
divine  prerogative  and  right  of  spiritual  teachings, 
the  history  of  the  church  the  world  over  proves  that 
its  professed  teachings  born  of,  and  ordered  by 
Rome,  now,  as  ever  in  the  past,  are  directly  oppo- 
site to  its  practices;  that  it  is  out  for  money  and 
power.  Is  it  from  results  of  doctrinal  teachings 
and  divine  prerogatives,  exercised  for  centuries  in 
Spain,  Italy,  Mexico,  and  other  countries,  where 
a  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants  have  been  inten- 
tionally kept  in  ignorance,  and  can  neither  read 
nor  write,  that  with  such  damaging  testimony,  and 
with  such  recommendations,  you  come  into  our 
state,  and  demand  the  establishment  of  parochial 
schools,  and  tell  us  what  thechureh  will  and  won't 
allow,  and  how  far  the  state  has  any  authority  over 


a 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         209 


the  morals  and  education  of  its  citizens  ?  Have 
you  forgotten  that  a  state  has  all  the  powers  of 
sovereignty  in  its  internal  affairs  as  well  as  its  inter- 
national relations  and  is  the  sovereign  personality 
in  a  state  ?  That  neither  the  wisdom  nor  the  moral 
propriety  of  its  own  acts  or  those  who  obey  its 
orders  and  commands  is  questionable  ?  That  it 
is  the  final  interpreter  of  the  principles  of  reason 
and  morality  for  its  subjects  and  is  absolute,  and  if 
resisted  may  clear  the  state  of  their  presence  ? 
That  sovereignty  is  the  power  without  which  a 
state  cannot  exist  and  is  the  test  and  criterion  of 
its  existence  ?  In  other  words,  as  before  stated, 
the  state,  which  is  alone  responsible  for  order  in  its 
borders,  is  alone  competent  to  determine  what  is 
to  take  place  within  its  limits,  nor  can  it  allow  any 
outside  authority,  spiritual  or  otherwise,  to  inter- 
fere under  any  pretext  whatsoever,  or  seek  to  de- 
termine as  to  the  morals  of  its  citizens,  and  every 
state  must  make  the  same  answer  to  those  who 
would  conspire  against  it,  and  use  their  liberty  to 
destroy  that  of  others,  and  as  faith  and  morals 
carry  everything  worth  having  in  the  individual 
sphere,  this  is  the  root  of  the  whole  matter.  The 
state  is  a  sovereign  power  superior  to  all  religious 
associations.  It  cannot  endure  half  slave  and  half 
free.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or  the  other, 
nor  can  either  state  or  nation  long  endure,  or  re- 
main in  power  if  it  doesn't  promptly  resent  insult 
to  its  laws.  The  real  issue  is  whether  mental 
slavery  is  right  or  wrong.  The  pope  alone  arro- 
gates to  himself  the  right  to  speak  to  the  state  as 


210  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

a  spiritual  superior,  setting  up  a  rival  law  against 
the  state,  in  the  state's  own  domain,  and  claiming 
title  to  coercive  means  of  enforcement.  He,  a 
foreigner  not  responsible  to  the  law  (in  his  own 
opinion),  is  to  decide  when,  in  his  opinion,  the 
state  has  gone  wrong,  and  what  his  followers  may 
do.  He  is  in  the  state  but  not  of  it;  proclaims 
himself  a  foreign  body  in  its  composition,  and  is 
violent  in  his  opposition  to  anything  opposing 
clerical  control  of  education.  An  absentee  pope 
claiming  authority  over  the  morals  of  our  people  is 
an  amusing  spectacle.  But  his  representatives  in 
this  country  obey,  and  support  him  in  this  mon- 
strous declaration,  or  take  the  consequences,  and 
he  who  rebels  doesn't  find  his  pathway  strewn 
with  violets  nor  honeysuckles.  The  voice  of  the 
state  is  hushed  and  awed  into  silence  before  this 
fearful  priestly  power  now  claiming  authority 
throughout  the  country.  Is  the  authority  of  the 
state  to  be  supreme,  or  is  it  to  allow  a  power  to 
exist  in  its  midst  that  it  confessedly  is  obliged  to 
obey,  as  in  some  foreign  countries  ?  To  have  this 
claim  conceded  in  any  way,  even  by  silence,  is 
suicidal.  The  basis  of  the  republic  is  the  liberty  of 
the  individual  citizen,  and  to  the  extent  his  rights 
are  preserved.  The  personal  protection  of  the 
citizen  is  the  highest  function  of  the  government. 
When  there  comes  a  prophet  among  the  people 
telling  them  their  laws  are  of  no  avail,  to  the  extent 
he  is  listened  to  and  believed,  when  he  says  this, 
he  breeds  anarchy.  Appended  is  a  certain  news- 
paper clipping  bearing  on  this  point,  in  which  are 


(< 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "        211 


remarks   purporting   to    come    from    Rev.    P.   F. 
O'Hare,  viz : 

By  an  attack  on  the  public  school  system  and  declaring 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  alone  can  stamp  out  the 
danger  of  anarchy  in  this  nation,  the  Rev.  Father  P.  F. 
O'Hare,  rector  of  St.  Anthony's  Church,  in  Greenpoint, 
startled  his  brother  graduates  of  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  in 
Baltimore,  yesterday  at  their  annual  gathering  in  St.  Joseph's 
Church,  Brooklyn. 

"  The  school  question  is  not  settled  yet,"  said  Father 
O'Hare.  "  There  is  no  compromise  between  truth  and 
error.  And  we  cannot,  we  will  not,  we  dare  not  compromise 
with  the  principle  which  maintains  that  the  state  possesses 
an  inherent  right  to  the  education  of  the  child;  that  in  edu- 
cation the  part  which  deals  with  the  most  vital  interest  of  the 
child,  religion,  is  to  be  disregarded  and  eliminated  from  the 
schedule  of  studies." 

Every  state  has  the  sole  and  inherent  right  to  the 
education  of  the  child,  and  this  open  attack  ad- 
dressed to  graduates  of  St.  Mary's  Seminary 
against  the  sovereignty  of  the  state  is  in  violation  of 
law. 

The  following  newspaper  clipping  contains 
remarks  purporting  to  come  from  a  bishop  at 
Savannah. 

Taking  for  his  subject  the  "  Separation  Law,"  which  is 
now  causing  so  much  trouble  between  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  France  and  the  government  of  that  country,  a  bishop  at 
Savannah  addressed  the  congregation  at  the  Cathedral  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist  after  vespers  last  night.  He  confined  him- 
self almost  wholly  to  a  statement  of  facts,  explaining,  as  he 
went  along,  what  the  law  is  and  the  results  of  its  operations. 

Now,  what  are  the  facts  ?     The  pope  is  the  supreme  head 


£12  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

of  the  Catholic  Church,  appointed  by  God.  This  may  not 
please  some  good  Protestant  friends  of  ours,  but  it  is  eminently 
satisfactory  to  us.  To  us  —  as  an  article  of  our  faith,  to  be 
believed  as  firmly  as  the  divinity  of  Christ  or  the  Trinity  — 
he  is  the  vicar  on  earth  of  our  Divine  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus 
Christ.  As  such  he  governs  all  the  flock  of  Christ  every- 
where,—  in  France,  in  England,  in  the  United  States.  In 
the  just  and  absolutely  necessary  exercise  of  his  office  and 
bounden  duty  he  has  declared  that  certain  acts  of  the  French 
assembly  are  subversive  of  God's  law  and  the  divine  consti- 
tution of  the  church. 

When  a  state  legislature  or  the  federal  Congress  attempt 
to  enact  a  law  which  is  directly  opposed  to  divine  law,  no  one 
is  bound  to  obey.  Furthermore,  if  the  legislature  of  this 
sovereign  state  of  Georgia  passed  a  law  forbidding  Catholics 
to  go  to  mass  "on  Sunday  or  forcing  them  under  threat  of 
punishment  fcTadmit  and  fully  recognize  the  validity  of  a 
marriage  of  persons  divorced  for  some  of  the  trivial  causes 
prevailing,  I,  as  bishop  of  this  diocese,  would  unhesitatingly 
deem  it  my  solemn  duty  to  protest  against  such  laws  and  tell 
my  people  it  was  their  solemn  duty  to  disobey  them. 

This  is  plain  enough.  Let  the  state  of  Georgia 
beware  how  it  enacts  any  laws  which  conflict  with 
the  "  divine  laws  "  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Newspaper  clipping  containing  remarks  pur- 
porting to  come  from  Archbishop  Farley : 

Archbishop  Farley  laid  the  cornerstone  of  the  new  Normal 
College  and  Novitiate  of  the  Christian  Brothers  at  Pocantico 
Hills  yesterday  afternoon. 

Archbishop  Farley  said:  "  The  men  sent  from  here  will 
train  your  children  to  be  good,  God-fearing,  honest  citizens 
of  this  great  country.  Success  is  not  the  getting  of  millions, 
but  in  being  the  fearless,  upright  citizen  who  has  God  in  his 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic"        213 

heart.  ...  To  the  Christian  brother  in  years  to  come  will 
be  given  the  credit  for  conquering  the  infamous  and  almost 
irreparable  damage  Horace  Mann  did  forty  years  ago  in 
banishing  God  from  our  schools. 

Is  it  for  this,  a  representative  of  the  pope,  en- 
joying personal  freedom  and  protection  of  our  laws, 
assails  the  memory  of  a  revered  American  citizen, 
foremost  in  the  cause  of  education,  in  whose  honor, 
and  for  whose  great  service  to  the  state  she  erects 
monuments,  and  points  with  pride  to  faithful,  un- 
selfish service  for  the  uplifting  of  the  human  race  ? 
Is  it  for  this  he  is  spoken  of  in  such  endearing  terms, 
or  is  it  because,  with  prophetic  vision  he  saw  the 
comino"  influx  of  ignorance  to  our  shores,  and  with 
words  of  mighty  import  sounded  the  death  knell  of 
parochial  schools  and  priestly  supremacy  ? 

The  following  is  another  newspaper  clipping. 

Beware  Protestant  Schools 

Archbishop  Farley  Warns  the  Daughters  of  the  Faith  Against 

Them. 

A  meeting  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Faith,  at  which  a 
number  of  prominent  clergymen,  a  physician,  a  judge,  a  poet, 
and  two  hundred  women  were  present,  was  held  yesterday 
afternoon  at  the  Catholic  Club,  120  West  Fifty-ninth  Street. 

"  I  cannot,"  he  said,  "  speak  too  strongly  on  the  subject 
of  the  necessity  of  sending  Catholic  children  to  Catholic 
academies.  There  is,  I  regret  to  say,  a  constant  and  I  fear 
growing  tendency  to  violate  this  most  binding  duty. 

"  Let  no  motive,  social,  financial,  or  political,  lead  you  to 
fling  your  children  into  the  jaws  of  infidelity  and  atheism. 

"  Only  a  few  weeks  ago  a  mother  came  to  me  almost  in 
despair,  entreating  that  a  mass  be  said  for  her  daughter.     She 


214  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

had  sent  the  girl  to  a  woman's  college  —  I  will  not  mention 
its  name,  but  it  was  an  institution  on  the  order  of  Vassar, 
Smith,  and  Bryn  Mawr  —  and  in  six  months  her  faith  had 
been  tampered  with  to  such  an  extent  that  she  refused  to 
accompany  her  mother  to  confession  on  Holy  Thursday. 

"  Again  I  enjoin  upon  you,  do  not  relax  your  vigilance  in 
this  direction." 

For  the  undignified  slur  to  colleges  '  on  the 
order  "  of  Vassar,  Smith,  and  Bryn  Mawr,  no  notice 
is  necessary  other  than  to  observe  the  cunning  de- 
vice to  prevent  Catholic  parents  sending  their 
daughters  to  the  above  named  and  similar  colleges, 
where  they  sometimes  learn  both  sides  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  thereafter  have  no  further  use  for  the 
"  confessional  "  —  of  which  more  will  be  said  later 
on.  The  most  dangerous  ignorance  is  that  variety 
which  poses  for  knowledge.  Who  is  this  authority 
that  constitutes  itself  the  grand  inquisitor  of  our 
public  schools  ?  Are  the  school  children  subjects  of 
the  pope,  or  are  they  children  of  American  citizens  ? 
If  the  latter,  what  right  has  the  pope  to  exercise  any 
guardianship  over  them  ?  Is  any  other  foreign 
country  or  professed  authority  allowed  to  openly 
attack  our  public  institutions?  If  not,  why  not 
demand  of  our  government  the  deportation  of  all 
such  emissaries  of  the  pope,  with  notice  to  the 
Italian  government  that  the  country  wants  no  more 
of  them  ?  You  think  this  is  taking  strong  ground  ? 
Wait  and  see.  I  pray  you  there  be  no  juggle  of 
words.  There  is  no  middle  ground.  Behind  all 
magazine  and  newspaper  writings,  underneath  all 
church  pretensions,    stand    the  practices    of    this 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic"         215 

great  financial  Octopus,  the  "  system,"  born  of  the 
dark  ages  to  fleece  and  keep  the  masses  in  mental 
subjection. 

Witness  the  following  encyclical  (letter)  of 
Pope  Pius  X,  carefully  prepared  by  the  "  sacred 
college  "  and  issued  in  his  name. 

"  The  great  potentate  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has 
issued  to  his  thousands  of  subjects  a  decree  declaring  that 
what  he  spells  by  the  term  modernism  and  what  others  spell 
by  the  terms  of  science  and  philosophy  shall  be  excluded 
rigidly  from  the  churches  and  the  schools." 

Rome,  Sept.  16,  1907.  The  Osservatore  Romano,  the 
organ  of  the  Vatican,  to-day  issued  an  important  encyclical 
of  Pope  Pius  X,  on  "  Modernism,"  which  really  is  a  comple- 
tion of  his  recent  syllabus.  The  document  sets  forth  that 
modernism  is  a  serious  danger  to  the  church,  refers  in  detail 
to  the  various  features  of  modernism,  condemns  it  as  danger- 
ous in  philosophy,  faith,  theology,  history,  criticism,  and 
reforms,  and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  modernism  is  a 
synthesis  of  all  heresy,  and  must  logically  lead  to  atheism. 

The  encyclical  makes  the  following  provisions: 

First,  the  teaching  of  philosophy,  positive  theology,  etc., 
is  to  be  carried  on  in  the  church  schools  and  universities,  but 
in  a  Catholic  spirit. 

Second,  modernists  are  to  be  removed  from  professorships 
and  the  direction  of  educational  institutions. 

Third,  the  clergy  and  faithful  are  not  to  be  allowed  to  read 
modernist  publications. 

Fourth.  A  committee  of  censorship  is  to  be  established 
in  every  diocese  to  pass  upon  the  publications  which  the 
clergy  and  faithful  shall  be  permitted  to  read. 

Fifth.  The  encyclical  of  the  late  Pope  Leo  XIII,  prohib- 
iting the  clergy  from  assuming  the  direction  of  publications 


216  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

without  their  bishops'  permission,  and  providing  for  super- 
vision of  the  work  of  ecclesiastical  writers,  is  confirmed. 

Sixth.  Ecclesiastical  congresses,  except  on  rare  occa- 
sions, are  prohibited. 

Seventh.  A  council  is  to  be  constituted  in  every  diocese 
to  combat  modern  errors. 

How  much  longer  will  the  state  allow  foreigners 
to  dictate  what  its  children  shall  read  or  be  taught, 
or  permit  a  censorship  established  in  every  diocese 
to  pass  upon  all  publications  to  be  read  by  the 
"  faithful  "  ? 

From  newspaper  clipping : 

After  mentioning  a  remark  of  the  cardinal's  about  the 
danger  of  his  being  killed  by  kindness,  the  speaker  said  that 
Cardinal  Logue's  strenuous  activity  of  yesterday  could 
"  scarcely  be  bettered  by  the  strenuous  man  in  Washington." 
The  speaker  went  on  to  some  length  in  defending  the  course 
of  his  church  in  regard  to  parochial  schools.  '  There  are 
those,"  he  said,  "  who  say  that  education  should  be  divorced 
from  sectarianism  and  even  from  religion ;  or  who  say  that  the 
child's  religious  training  should  be  along  the  lines  of  our 
common  Christianity.'  '  Leave  the  child  to  us,'  they  say, 
'  to  educate  him  for  this  world  alone,  and  give  him  the  right 
to  make  his  own  choice  in  matters  of  religion  later.'  To  this 
the  church  answers:  '  I  cannot  be  anything  else  than  my 
Master  made  me  —  the  last  judge  of  what  is  right  and  what 
is  not  right  in  the  consciences  of  mankind.'  " 

We  agree,  the  church  cannot  be  anything  else 
than  its  masters  made  it,  nor  is  there  anything  like 
it  in  this  vale  of  tears,  but  when  it  comes  to  "  being 
the  last  judge  of  what  is  right  and  what  is  not  right 
in  the  conscience  of  mankind,"  anybody  who  can 
swallow  that  can  swallow  anything. 


"The  Church  and  the  Republic"  217 

As  related  of  Modjeska, 

Although  a  genius,  the  actress  was  far  from  being  destitute 
of  common  sense.  She  proved  this  on  one  occasion  in  a 
western  city  when  she  was  invited  to  attend  a  mass  meeting  of 
Poles  for  the  purpose  of  agitating  for  separate  Polish  schools, 
teachers,  books,  and  so  on.  After  everybody  else  on  the 
platform  had  made  an  address  advocating  separate  schools 
Mme.  Modjeska  arose  and  astounded  the  gathering  by  saying 

in  substance: 

"  Shame  upon  you  for  coming  to  this  country  for  freedom 
and  a  chance  to  educate  your  children  and  then  repudiating 
the  language  and  customs  of  the  country  where  you  are  free 
and  encouraged!  Send  your  children  to  American  schools. 
Make  them  Americans.  Naturalize  yourselves.  Try  to  be 
a  -part  and  a  good  part  of  the  place  that  has  given  you  asylum. 
Keep  up  your  own  language  in  your  homes  and  among  your- 
selves and  let  your  children  have  that  too." 

The  Polish  school  plan  went  up  in  smoke  after  Modjeska's 
speech. 

The  French  system  of  education,  so  far  as  the 
government  schools  are  concerned,  is  based  on  the 
assumption  that  the  child's  liberty  must  be  re- 
spected and  its  conscience  must  not  be  infringed; 
hence,  no  religious  instruction,  and,  for  that  matter, 
no  moral  instruction,  until  the  child  can  choose  for 
himself  his  religion  and  philosophy.     In  Austria, 
since  1868,  the  supervision  and  direction  of  educa- 
tion have  been  taken  from  the  authority  of  the 
church  and  restored  to  the  hands  of  the  state. 
The    school    is    no    longer    confessional,    for    the 
reason  that  every  school  receiving  public  aid  must 
be  accessible  to  all  children  without  distinction  of 
sect. 


218  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

The  same  is  true  of  Mexico.  In  Spain  the 
cabinet  is  discussing  a  law  forbidding  religious 
associations,  with  specified  exceptions,  to  under- 
take teaching,  which  is  now  declared  to  be  the 
function  of  the  state.  In  Switzerland  the  public 
school  system,  says  Everybody' s  Magazine,  is 
probably  the  best  in  the  world.  "  Public  school 
education  is  practically  compulsory.  You  can 
send  your  child  to  a  private  school  (in  some  cantons) 
if  you  insist  upon  doing  so,  but  the  face  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  force  of  the  public  opinion  are 
sternly  against  the  practice.  In  the  canton  of 
Solothurn  private  schools  are  absolutely  forbidden. 
In  other  cantons  a  private  school  pupil  must  secure 
a  formal  permit  from  local  authorities,  and  in  some 
cantons  he  must  pay  a  charge  to  the  public  funds, 
the  idea  being  that  the  public  schools  are  good 
enough  for  all,  that  rich  and  poor  are  to  meet 
there  on  even  terms,  that  the  public  school  is  the 
nursery  of  democracy  and  patriotism,  above  all, 
that  democracy  is  the  life  blood  and  strength  and 
very  soul  of  the  republic,  and  without  the  republic 
Switzerland  is  nothing.  Private  schools  for  Swiss 
children  are  few  in  number  and  such  as  exist  are 
under  the  strict  supervision  of  the  state.  Educa- 
tion is  a  serious  matter  in  Switzerland;  there  is  no 
escape  from  it.  A  parent  must  send  his  children 
to  school  or  go  himself  to  jail.  In  other  words,  the 
people,  and  no  pretended  or  other  religious  asso- 
ciation, decided  as  to  the  education  of  its  children. 
Hence,  the  army  examinations  show  only  twenty- 
four  in  ten  thousand  unable  to  read,  and  these  are 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         219 

always  the  scattered  dwellers  on  lonely  mountain 
peaks. 

Witness  the  condition  where  the  Catholic 
Church  has  held  sway  for  centuries. 

Spanish  Illiteracy 

Of  the  twenty  million  people  inhabiting  Spain,  only  about 
thirty -five  per  cent  can  read  and  write ;  another  two  and  one 
half  per  cent  of  the  population  can  read  without  being  able 
to  write,  but  the  remaining  sixty-two  and  one  half  per  cent  are 
absolutely  illiterate.  In  the  south  of  Spain  it  is  impossible 
to  get  a  servant  who  can  read  and  write,  and  many  of  the 
postmen  are  unable  to  tell  to  whom  the  letters  they  carry  are 
addressed.  They  bring  a  bundle  of  letters  to  a  house  and 
the  owner  looks  through  them  and  takes  those  which  are  (or 
which  he  thinks  are)  addressed  to  him. 

Political  feeling  in  Canada  varies,  according  to  the  prov- 
inces one  visits.  The  very  mode  of  life  and  thought  varies 
similarly.  In  Quebec,  the  population,  being  largely  French, 
is  out  of  sympathy  with  most  of  the  other  provinces.  It  is 
hard  to  realize  that  in  this  twentieth  century,  right  here  on  the 
western  continent,  there  is  a  province  where  the  Catholic 
Church  exerts  a  predominating  force  in  state  affairs  more 
completely  than  in  any  other  country,  save  possibly  Spain.* 
Tithes  are  paid  to  the  church,  collected,  in  fact,  by  the  civil 
authorities  as  regular  taxes  are,  and  if  unpaid  are  a  charge  or 
lien  against  the  land. 

Rev.  Father  Walsh  is  reported  to  have  said : 

During  the  deliberations  of  the  school  department  the 
Rev.  Father  Walsh  will  present  a  most  interesting  report  of 
Catholic  parochial  school  work  accomplished  during  the 
past  year.  It  will  announce  the  successful  operation  of  up- 
ward of  seventy  separate  schools,  with  a  total  of  about  50,000 

*A  tenth  part  of  the  province  of  land  paid  in  money. 


220  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

boys  and  girls  and  a  teaching  staff  of  nearly  1,000,  and  these 
figures  will  show  the  Boston  archdiocese  to  rank  third  among 
the  archdioceses  of  the  United  States  in  the  matter  of  Catholic 
school  attendance,  being  now  surpassed  only  by  New  York 
and  Chicago.  The  pupils  in  the  Catholic  schools  of  the  state 
outside  of  the  archdiocese  number  over  26,000,  making  a  total 
of  about  75,000  scholars  in  Catholic  free  schools  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  that  number  exceeds  the  entire  public  school 
enrollment  of  the  states  of  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  or 
Rhode  Island. 

The  children  in  the  Catholic  schools  in  Boston  equal  about 
one  fifth  of  the  enrollment  of  the  city  public  schools,  and  to 
educate  these  children  it  is  said  it  would  cost  the  city  over 
$600,000.  To  provide  schoolhouses  for  these  pupils  at  the 
average  rate  which  has  prevailed  for  several  years  would  cost 
over  $4,500,000. 

To  educate  the  pupils  in  Catholic  schools  of  the  arch- 
diocese would  cost  the  cities  and  towns  over  $1,300,000  it  is 
estimated,  and  in  the  state  nearly  $3,000,000  merely  for 
running  expenses  alone. 

The  church  is  pleased  to  call  parochial  schools 
free  public  schools,  but  this  is  misleading.  They 
are  private  schools,  and  like  all  private  schools  are 
not  supported  by  the  state.  When  the  time  comes 
that  they  shall  demand  state  money  to  support 
their  parochial  schools  you  will  understand  the  im- 
portance of  educating  children  who  will  vote  for 
state  sovereignty,  and  not  in  the  interests  of  any 
church.  But  it  is  better  done  now,  before  the  horse 
gets  out  of  the  stable. 

In  ten  years  these  children  will  be  voters.  Is 
there  any  question  in  your  mind  how  they  will 
vote?     The  church  is  educating  young  girls,  and 


<< 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         221 


sending  them  out  West  by  the  car  load.  When 
their  children  grow  up,  is  there  any  question  how 
they  will  vote  ? 

The  following  clipping  is  from  a  French  news- 
paper. 

The  Catholics,  it  is  true,  are  a  minority;  but  they  are  a 
minority  that  is  homogeneous,  organized,  and  disciplined. 
They  form  a  solid  block  in  the  midst  of  a  heap  of  crumbling 
Protestant  fragments.  They  are,  it  is  true,  the  lowest  ele- 
ment of  the  nation;  but  under  universal  suffrage  the  vote  of 
a  brute  is  worth  that  of  a  Newton.  When  there  shall  be  an 
army  of  fifteen  or  twenty  millions  of  Catholics,  firmly  united 
by  a  tyrannical  faith,  trained  under  the  regime  of  the  con- 
fessional, blindly  committed  to  the  will  of  their  priests,  and 
directed  by  the  brains  of  a  few  high  Jesuits,  we  shall  see  how 
much  of  a  showing  there  will  be  for  American  liberty. 

From  the  Outlook 

Archbishop  Elder,  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Archdiocese 
of  Cincinnati,  has  issued  a  letter  to  his  ecclesiastical  subor- 
dinates which  was  read  in  the  churches  under  his  jurisdiction 
the  last  Sunday  in  August.  He  regrets  to  say  that  there  are 
"  some  fathers  and  mothers  who  .  .  .  send  their  children  to 
non-Catholic  schools."  He  declares  that  it  is  "  the  doctrine 
of  the  church  .  .  .  that  to  attend  a  non-Catholic  school  con- 
stitutes usually  a  grave  and  permanent  danger  to  the  faith,  and 
that  therefore  it  is  a  mortal  sin  for  any  parents  to  send  their 
children  to  such  a  school,  except  where  there  is  no  other  suit- 
able school,  and  unless  such  precautions  are  taken  as  to  make 
the  danger  remote."  The  decision  as  to  whether  parents 
shall  send  their  children  to  non-Catholic  schools  or  not  is  one 
which,  he  declares,  rests  not  with  the  parents,  but  with  the 
bishops.  In  order  to  avoid  what  he  considers  to  be  the  "  very 
grievous  scandal  "  caused  by  the  Catholic  parent  who  sends 


222  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

his  child  to  a  non-Catholic  school  where  there  is  a  Catholic 
one,  he  lays  down  eight  rules.  The  last  three  rules  do  not 
bear  directly  upon  the  relation  of  Roman  Catholics  to  the 
public  schools,  having  to  do  with  the  observance  of  first 
communion.  The  first  five  rules,  however,  bear  very  directly 
upon  the  public  school  question.  We  here  give  these  five 
rules  in  the  language  of  the  archbishop.  We  omit  from  the 
last  rule,  for  the  sake  of  space,  certain  explanatory  sentences 
which  are  not  essential. 

1.  In  places  where  there  is  a  Catholic  school  parents  are 
obliged,  under  the  plain  of  mortal  sin,  to  send  their  children 
to  it.  This  rule  holds  good,  not  only  in  the  case  of  children 
who  have  not  yet  made  their  first  communion,  but  also  in 
case  of  those  who  have  received  it.  Parents  should  send 
their  children  to  the  Catholic  school  so  long  as  its  standards 
and  grades  are  as  good  as  those  of  the  non-Catholic  school. 
And  even  if  there  is  no  school  attached  to  the  congregation  of 
which  parents  are  members,  they  would  still  be  obliged  to 
send  their  children  to  some  other  parochial  school,  or  to  a 
college  or  academy,  if  they  can  do  so  without  great  hardship 
either  to  themselves  or  to  their  children. 

2.  It  is  the  province  of  the  bishop  to  decide  whether  a 
parish  should  be  exempted  from  having  a  parish  school,  and 
whether  in  case  there  be  a  Catholic  school  in  the  place, 
parents  may  send  their  children  to  a  non-Catholic  school. 
Each  case  must  be  submitted  to  us,  except  where  there  is  a 
question  of  children  living  three  or  more  miles  distant  from 
a  Catholic  school.  Such  children  can  hardly  be  compelled 
to  attend  the  Catholic  school. 

3.  As  the  obligation  of  sending  a  child  to  a  Catholic 
school  binds  under  the  pain  of  mortal  sin,  it  follows  that  the 
neglect  to  comply  with  it  is  a  matter  of  accusation,  when  going 
to  confession.  We  fail  to  see  how  fathers  and  mothers  who 
omit  to  accuse  themselves  of  this  fault  can  believe  that  they 
are  making  an  entire  confession  of  their  sins. 


The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         223 

4.  Confessors  are  hereby  forbidden  to  give  absolution  to 
parents  who,  without  permission  of  the  archbishop,  send  their 
children  to  non-Catholic  schools,  unless  such  a  school,  at  the 
time  to  be  fixed  by  the  confessor,  or  at  least  agree,  within  two 
weeks  from  the  day  of  confession,  to  refer  the  case  to  the 
archbishop,  and  abide  by  his  decision.  If  they  refuse  to  do 
either  the  one  or  the  other,  the  confessor  cannot  give  them 
absolution;  and  should  he  attempt  to  do  so,  such  absolution 
would  be  null  and  void. 

5.  We  strictly  enjoin  that  Diocesan  Statute  No.  64  be 
adhered  to:  "  We  decree  that  those  who  are  to  be  admitted 
to  first  holy  communion  shall  have  spent  at  least  two  years  in 
Catholic  schools.  This  rule  is  to  be  observed  also  by  supe- 
riors of  colleges  and  academies."  ...  No  exception  is  to  be 
made  to  it  without  our  permission." 

How  is  this  for  boasted  American  freedom,  and 
how  much  longer  will  the  state  allow  anybody  to  tell 
children  that  it  is  a  very  grievous  scandal  to  send 
them  to  our  public  schools,  whether  bishop,  priest, 
or  layman  ?  Church  influence  on  popular  education 
is  the  influence  of  the  upas  tree,  it  kills,  it  blights. 
The  evil  (parochial)  is  slowly  eating  its  way  into 
the  heart  of  the  state  and  nation.  It  says  it  is  in 
favor  of  education,  and  wants  to  have  its  own  way 
in  this  matter,  as  it  had  in  France,  Mexico,  Spain, 
Italy,  and  South  America.  All  education  must 
be  moulded  to  its  views.  The  teaching  of  the 
children  by  the  church  is  a  direct  interference  with 
the  liberty  of  the  individual,  in  recognizing  the  pope 
as  the  supreme  head.  Such  children  can  never 
become  loyal  to  our  government  and  its  president, 
deny  this  as  you  may.  The  education  of  coming 
generations  must  not  be  left  with  the  clergy,  who 


224  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

exercise  great  influence  on  the  intellectual  growth 
of  the  community  and  keep  the  people  in  a  state 
of   mental  servitude,    thereby   endangering   inde- 
pendence of  thought,  secured  at  so  great  a  cost  by 
the  founders  of  the  republic.     Attendance  at  public 
schools,  which  shall  be  independent  of  church  con- 
trol, should  be  compulsory  and  for  all.     Banish  all 
parochial  and  other  private  schools  as  in  Switzer- 
land.    Children  of  rich  and  poor  should  sit  on  the 
same  bench.     In  our  schools  the  children  are  taught 
the    duties    of   citizenship.     They    are    taught    to 
acknowledge  no  priestly  authority  is  superior  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States.     I  regret  to  say  the 
insolence  and  impertinent  interference  with  and  the 
characterizations  of  the  bishops  and  priests  of  our 
schools  is  only  equalled  by  their  misrepresentations. 
Attacking  these  encourages  the  undermining  of  our 
government.     It  is  now  only  a  question  whether  you 
will  raise  these  children  to  your  level  or  allow  the 
priests  to  drag  you  down  to  theirs.     The  pupils 
of  the  parochial  schools  call  public  schools  "  God- 
less "  because  our  children  are  not  taught  that  the 
pope  is  the  vicegerent  of  God,  must  be  worshipped 
as  such,  is  infallible.     This  condition  of  affairs  ex- 
erts a  baneful  influence  throughout  the  state  and 
entire  country  and  weakens  the  power  of  the  govern- 
ment both  at  home  and  abroad. 

A  writer  says,  "  The  parochial  schools  are  hot 
beds  for  the  destruction  of  the  mental  freedom. 
Give  the  church  the  parochial  school  system,  with 
political  corruption  in  politics  in  the  United  States, 
degradation  and  ignorance  is  sure  to  follow."  La- 
fayette, himself  a  Catholic,  was  not  wholly  blind 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic  "         225 

when  he  said,  '  If  the  liberties  of  the  American 
people  are  ever  destroyed  they  will  fall  by  the  hands 
of  the  Romish  clergy."  The  recent  demonstration 
in  England  shows  the  English  people  that  the 
official  representatives  of  Catholicism  in  England 
hold  themselves  bound  to  disobey  "  the  civil  govern- 
ment of  this  realm,  and  to  revolt  against  the  laws  ' 
if  the  pope  orders  them  to  do  so.  What  is  true  in 
England  is  true  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  in  every 
country.  How  much  longer  England  will  suffer 
those  secret  wire  pullers  behind  the  throne  at  Rome 
to  imperil  her  national  and  financial  existence  with 
their  plottings  for  power  and  money,  time  alone 
can  tell. 

In  :  The  Double  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of 
Rome,"  Baroness  von  Zedtwitz  says,  '  Jesuitical 
casuistry  is  to-day,  and  has  been  since  the  Reforma- 
tion, the  powerful  intellectual  bond  which  holds 
the  organization  (church)  from  disruption.  Jesuit- 
ism is  but  esoteric  (for  the  initiated),  Catholicism 
made  tangible.  It  is  the  heart  and  spirit  of  the 
whole  system;  and  whether  or  not  there  have  been 
and  still  be  popes  and  prelates  who  are  covertly 
hostile  to  its  necessary  hegemony,  they  are  aware 
that  if  Catholicism  and  papacy  are  to  last  Jesuitism 
is  absolutely  indispensable  for  their  justification. 
Otherwise  Rome  would  have  been  forced  to  call 
upon  the  Jesuits  in  Vatican  council  to  disown  and 
repudiate  the  unsound  moral  teachings  of  a  whole 
host  of  Jesuit  authors,  or  failing  to  obey  this  order, 
banish  the  Jesuits  from  the  church.  Rome  has 
never   attempted   either."     The    Jesuits   seem   to 


226  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

have  had  hard  lines,  being  driven  from  nearly  every 
country  on  the  face  of  the  globe;  but  somehow 
they  manage  to  get  back  again.  See  Butler's 
"  Mexico  in  Transition,"  page  278.  They  are  now 
going  back  to  Germany.  A  bill  was  recently  in- 
troduced in  the  House  of  Commons  making  it  pos- 
sible for  a  Jesuit  to  be  eligible  to  the  highest  govern- 
ment offices  in  the  gift  of  the  kingdom.  Gentle 
reader,  can't  you  see  where  the  colored  gentleman 
in  that  woodpile  is  located  ?  You  can  always  put 
your  finger  on  him,  because  he  is  always  in  the  same 
place  and  in  the  same  woodpile.  Votes!  The 
Jesuits  play  the  fiddle,  get  paid  for  it,  and  also  have 
the  fun  of  seeing  the  others  dance.  "  In  August, 
1873,  the  Jesuits  were  banished  from  Mexico  and 
warned  never  to  return.  The  latest  report  in  1873 
then  showed  2,377  members  of  this  order,  1,130 
being  in  the  United  States  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
remainder  in  England."  It  would  seem  these  are 
the  polite,  plausible  gentlemen  whose  acquaintance 
you  are  about  to  cultivate,  whose  schools,  monas- 
teries, and  convents  you  are  to  investigate  and 
inquire  as  to  the  good  health  of  their  respective 
inmates.  For  some  reason  or  other  the  Jesuits 
have  been  tried  and  found  wanting.  Some  gov- 
ernments found  they  wanted  too  much.  History 
says  they  wanted  the  earth,  and  that  sometimes 
they  got  it,  but  subsequently  had  to  decamp,  move 
away.  Baroness  von  Zedtwitz  says  further,  "  It 
was  not  to  combat  heresy  that  the  Jesuits,  as  an 
order,  came  into  being;  it  was  to  save  the  Roman 
Church  from  the  abyss  and  ruin  which  threatened 


a 


The    Church   and   the   Republic"       227 


it,  that  the  comforting  assurances  of  Filintius, 
Molina,  and  Lessius,  that  simony  is  not  a  crime 
'  if  you  direct  your  motive,'  that  homicide  is  fully 
justified  '  when  committed  to  avenge  an  affront,' 
have  never  yet  been  officially  disowned by  Rome." 
Navarrus,  another  casuist,  enlarging  upon  the 
question  of  duelling  discussed  in  the  "  Moral  The- 
ology of  Sanchez,"  has  likewise  never  been  con- 
demned for  saying,  "  It  is  even  preferable  not  to 
employ  the  means  of  duelling  against  an  enemy,  if 
you  can  kill  him  secretly;  and  in  that  way  finish  the 
affair,  for  by  so  doing  you  can  at  once  avoid  risking 
your  own  life  in  the  combat,  and  besides  the  partici- 
pation of  the  sin  which  your  enemy  would  commit 
in  duelling"  In  other  words,  beware  when  ye 
tread  the  thorny  road  of  opposition  to  the  church, 
in  this  land  of  fancied  intellectual  freedom. 

Clipping  from  a  Boston  newspaper. 

Just  as  a  detail  from  Benjamin  Stone  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of 
Dorchester,  started  to  walk  reverently  with  bowed  heads  down 
the  center  aisle  of  St.  Mark's  Catholic  Church,  Dorchester, 
to-day,  escorting  the  body  of  Richard  Fitzgerald,  a  comrade, 
the  Rev.  John  A.  Daly,  pastor  of  the  church,  ordered  the 
American  flag  removed  from  the  casket.  Furthermore,  he 
would  not  allow  the  post  to  carry  its  stands  of  colors  into  the 
auditorium,  and  they  were  left  in  the  vestry. 

The  church  was  well  filled  with  sorrowing  friends,  and  the 
action  of  the  clergyman  created  considerable  astonishment, 
particularly  among  members  of  the  Grand  Army  post.  Some 
of  them  threatened  to  report  the  matter  to  Archbishop 
O'Connell. 

Subsequently,  when  Father  Daly  was  asked  by  a  reporter 
for  the  Boston  Herald  why  he  had  taken  such  action,  he  re- 
plied :     "  It's  the  law  of  the  Catholic  Church." 


228  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

"But  has  n't  the  American  flag  been  taken  into  Catholic 
churches  under  similar  circumstances  before  ?  "he  was  asked. 

"  All  laymen  don't  know  everything  about  church  law, 
do  they  ?  "  he  replied.  "  I  live  up  to  the  law  of  the  church. 
Those  fellows  made  an  awful  lot  of  fuss  about  nothing." 

The  body  of  Comrade  Fitzgerald  was  escorted  by  the  post 
from  the  home,  28  Brent  Street,  where  the  American  flag, 
according  to  the  custom  of  Grand  Army  posts,  had  been 
draped  about  the  casket. 

When  the  cortege  had  arrived  at  St.  Mark's  Church, 
which  was  well  filled  at  the  time,  the  organist  started  a  funeral 
march  and  the  bearers  began  to  walk  down  the  center  aisle 
with  the  casket.  They  had  gone  but  a  few  feet  when  Father 
Daly,  who  was  standing  in  the  rear,  ordered  the  flag  removed. 

There  was  some  talk  between  Commander  David 
Gleason  of  the  post,  and  the  pastor,  and  the  flag  was  removed 
as  directed.  Then  the  post  was  requested  to  leave  its  stands 
of  colors  in  the  vestry,  which  was  also  done. 

If,  in  paying  the  last  token  of  respect  to  one  of 
its  brave  defenders  the  citizens  of  our  state,  through 
its  governor,  permit  the  flag  of  our  native  country, 
covering  the  body  of  our  comrade,  and  which  he 
risked  his  life  to  defend  and  maintain,  to  be  ig- 
nored and  insulted  by  the  representative  of  any 
foreign  organization,  religious  or  otherwise,  and 
fail  to  compel  such  representative  to  make  full  and 
ample  apology  to  the  state  for  such  insult,  I  have 
nothing  to  say,  other  than  to  recommend  reading 
the  history  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  if  then 
you  have  no  shame,  pray  leave  the  state.  You  don't 
belong  here,  nor  need  a  patriot  necessarily  be  con- 
sidered a  bigot  in  thus  resenting  insult  to  the  flag 
of  his  state  and  nation  by  any  association,  religious 
or  otherwise. 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic  "  229 

The  claims^of  the  pope  and  the  freedom  of  the 
state  are  totally  incompatible.  With  assurance 
born  of  coming  voting  power,  with  wealth  obtained 
from  masses,  sale  of  indulgences,  and  church  offer- 
ings, the  Pope  of  Rome,  who  claims  to  be  above, 
and  not  subject  to,  public  control,  now  comes  to  our 
state,  through  his  representatives,  claiming  divine 
authority,  and  with  power  of  a  sovereign,  "  the 
right  to  exercise  supreme  control  over  the  morals 
of  certain  of  our  citizens;  declares  God  Almighty 
appointed  ecclesiastical  and  civil  powers;  that  each 
in  its  kind  is  supreme,  neither  obeying  the  other 
within  the  limits  it  is  restricted  by  its  constitution." 
It  is  needless  to  say  such  claims  as  these  are  not 
adapted  to  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world,  and 
it  only  remains  for  the  state  to  say  that  it  (state) 
is  a  sovereign  power,  superior  to  all  religious  asso- 
ciations: that  it  is  alone  competent  to  determine 
what  is  to  take  place  within  its  limits ;  that  its  orders 
and  commands  are  unquestionable;  that  it  acknowl- 
edges no  supreme  ecclesiastical,  separate  sphere, 
constitution,  authority,  or  power,  it  has  to  e  bey 
within  certain  restricted  limits,  and  denies  same 
exists.  That  every  means  and  measure  will  be  used 
to  prevent  and  stamp  out  all  teachings  against  the 
sovereignty  of  the  state  and  its  public  school 
system;  that  an  attitude  of  contempt  and  defiance 
of  the  law  is  dangerous  to  its  good  name,  that  it 
breeds  lawlessness,  smacks  of  anarchy,  is  not 
American,  and  that  all  such  are  enemies  to  the 
state.  The  public  school  is  the  cornerstone  of  any 
government.     It  is  the  duty  of  the  state  to  demand 


230  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

the  education  of  its  future  citizens,  and  to  make 
good  citizens  of  the  republic.  The  citizens  of 
to-day  are  the  sovereigns  of  to-morrow.  A  small 
body  of  religious  pretenders  in  a  foreign  country, 
through  its  appointed  leaders  in  our  country,  now 
seeks  to  interfere  with  the  domestic  affairs  of  the 
state,  attack  our  public  schools,  and  proclaims  they 
will  "  resist  interference  of  parochial  schools  to  the 
uttermost,"  that  as  Catholics  and  as  citizens  it  is 
their  duty  to  accept  the  civil  law  and  submit  to  it 
up  to  the  point  where  its  application  may  not  openly 
violate  the  rights  of  conscience  and  the  rules  of 
its  religion."  In  reply  the  republic  says  the 
people  may  worship  the  Supreme  Being  in  their  own 
way,  but  they  shall  not  be  allowed  to  use  their 
creed  as  a  lever  wherewith  to  destroy  or  dominate 
the  republic.  As  to  the  latter,  the  following  public 
announcement  in  our  newspapers  leaves  no  ques- 
tion of  the  openly  declared  purpose  of  the  Roman 
hierarchy. 

The  new  York  clergy  are  to  attend  the  Congress  of  Mis- 
sionaries to  be  held  at  the  Apostolic  Mission  House,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday. 

It  is  expected  there  will  be  five  hundred  delegates,  and  the 
purpose  of  the  gathering  will  be  "  to  discover  the  best  means 
of  making  America  dominantly  Catholic."  This  will  be  along 
the  same  line  as  the  mission  congress  held  at  Chicago  in  the 
fall.  Representatives  will  be  present  from  the  orders  of 
Passionist,  Dominican,  Franciscan,  Sulpician,  Benedictine, 
Jesuit,  and  Paulist,  together  with  parish  priests  from  many 
sections.  Cardinal  Gibbons  will  preside  at  the  sessions,  and 
many  prelates  will  attend. 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic'  231 

Making  America  dominantly   Catholic    (from   L. 
dominatus),  having  the  power  to  rule  over  America. 
Do  you  fully  realize  the  assumption,  the  audacity, 
of  a  small  coterie  of  men  in  Rome  who  thus  pro- 
claim their  intention  to  attempt  to  dominate  and 
control  the  government  ?     Is  it  not  true  they  have 
priests  in  every  town  of  any  size  in  the  country  who 
through    the   confessional    know   everything   they 
wish  of  the  status  of  every  family  of  their  followers; 
that  they  have  very  quietly  well  nigh  got  control  of 
the  press  of  the  country,  with  a  spy  system  the  best 
in  the  world;    that  they  count  upon  the  votes  of 
ignorant  men  with  which  to  make  you  their  mental 
slave  ?    And  do  you  know  what  that  slavery  is,  or 
must  you  suffer,  suffer,  suffer  ?    Of  what  avail  these 
words  unless  you  Awake,  and  work  with  voice  and 
pen  to  expose  the  practices    of    an  organization 
which  for  centuries  has  under  the  garb  of  religion 
lived  in  luxury  and  kept  the  masses  in  ignorance. 
"  Catholicism  insinuates  itself  agreeably,  wishing 
to  appear  only  as  a  moral  and  religious  discipline. 
It  has  but  one  object  in  America,  the  control  of  the 
republic.     When  thwarted,  it  complains  of  perse- 
cution.    It  makes  no  account  to  the  state  or  nation 
of  its  vast  accumulations,  contributes  nothing  to 
the  public  burdens,  and  claims  all  immunities." 
Its   monastic   and   convent   system    (which   every 
state  should  abolish  if  it  would  live,  as   foreign 
countries  have  done  and  had  to  do  for  self-pro- 
tection alone)  is  secluded  from  governmental  in- 
spection or  the  influence  of  public  opinion  as  to  the 
personelle,  property,  rights,  and  liberties  of  the 


232  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

thousands  around  whom  she  erects  those  massive 
walls.  These  buildings,  with  images  and  all  other 
implements  to  catch  and  hold  its  followers,  are 
centers  of  power  for  the  church,  which  uses  its 
inmates  to  beg  for  gold  and  in  all  ways  to  do  its 
bidding.  Such  institutions  should  be  investigated 
by  the  state,  to  liberate  some  of  the  inmates  who 
are  afraid  to  speak  against  them,  and  want  to  get 
away  (but  argus  eyes  prevent  their  escape)  to 
tell  the  sad  story.  The  parochial  schools,  the  hot 
beds  for  the  destruction  of  mental  freedom,  upon 
which  the  future  greatness  of  the  nation  depends, 
are  one  of  the  gravest  dangers  that  can  come  to  our 
country  as  the  young  men  educated  in  those  schools 
are  soon  to  become  voters,  and  are  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  priests,  deny  this  as  you  may,  who  in 
turn  are  under  orders  from  those  in  higher  author- 
ity, whom  they  blindly  follow.  Nor  will  the  nation 
knowingly  permit  any  of  its  citizens  to  be  kept  in 
mental  subjection  in  order  to  support  and  maintain 
a  foreign  hierarchy  in  idleness.  Trained  from 
boyhood  to  regard  personal  initiative  as  the  greatest 
sin,  and  submission  the  highest  virtue,  the  claims 
of  these  officials  who  charge  the  air  with  ecclesias- 
tical consequence  are  hollow  in  the  extreme. 
Baroness  von  Zedtwitz,  who  speaks  with  unpre- 
judiced knowledge  and  authority,  and  who  is  not 
afraid  of  Rome,  and  to  speak  the  truth,  says  in  her 
book,  "  The  Double  Doctrine  of  Rome,"  printed  by 
printers  to  the  Apostolic  See  "Liguori  says,"  page 
41,  ''  The  priest  has  the  power  of  the  keys,  or  the 
power  of  delivering  sinners  from  hell,  or  making 


"  The  Church  and  the  Republic  "  233 

them  worthy  of  paradise,  and  of  changing  them 
from  slaves  of  Satan  into  the  children  of  God,  and 
God  himself,  is  obliged  to  abide  by  the  judgment  of 
his  priests,  and  either  not  to  pardon,  or  to  pardon, 
according  as  they  (the  priests)  refuse  or  give  abso- 
lution, provided  the  penitent  is  capable  of  it."  Is 
it  for  the  best  interest  of  the  children  and  the 
nation  that  they  should  be  made  to  believe  such 
teachings  as  the  above,  that  their  religious  superior 
is  omnipotent  and  through  the  confessional,  masses, 
and  indulgences,  be  held  in  mental  and  spiritual 
subjection,  with  promises  unfulfilled  ? 

The  apostolic  vicar  system  established  in  our 
country,  being  everywhere  sovereign,  supplies  the 
money  of  that  court,  enabling  it  to  pursue  a  system 
of  imposition  with  which  to  retain  spiritual  power 
with  a  portion  of  our  citizens.     An  accomplice  in 
the  work  of  its  predecessors  to  impede  the  progress 
of  knowledge  in  order  to  keep  mankind  in  the 
bondage  of  mental  slavery.     It  is  idle  to  deny  that 
a  grave  crisis  exists  which  is  full  of  peril  to  our 
country.     Rome  is  drawing  its  lines  closer  about 
the  citadel  of  freedom,  while  the  nation  sleeps. 
Read  Butler's  "  Mexico  in  Transition,"  Eaton  and 
Mains,    publishers.     Read    Fulton's  "  Washing- 
ton in  the  Lap  of  Rome,"  now  difficult  to  find. 
Read"TheConfessional,1880,"byFatherChiniquy, 
Chicago,  A.  Craig   &  Co.     Read  "  The  Converted 
Catholic,"  published  in  New  York,  and  numerous 
other  books  of  similar  tenor  if  you  would  know 
more  of  the  purposes  of  the  "  system."     The  last 
great  battle  for  human  rights,  greater  and  fiercer 
than  the  world   has   ever  seen  is  yet   to   come. 


234  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

America,  and  mental  freedom  on  the  one  hand, 
intolerance  and  the  traditional  despotism  of  Rome, 
on  the  other.  National  education,  or  national 
ignorance.  No  careful  observer  of  the  times  can 
fail  to  notice  movements  that  foretell  the  coming 
conflict.  The  United  States  will  not  countenance 
rebellion  whatever  the  pretext,  nor  permit  any 
religious  or  other  association  to  tyrannize  over  the 
consciences  of  its  people  by  constraint  and  force. 
Of  the  result  of  this  struggle  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion, and  with  the  downfall  of  popery  in  our 
country  comes  the  liberation  of  millions  of  people 
both  here  and  in  Europe  now  held  in  mental 
bondage,  and  for  whom  this  country,  through 
divine  Providence  and  its  own  efforts,  is  to  become 
a  resting  place  for  all  nationalities  to  worship 
Almighty  God  whenever  they  please,  as  long  as 
they  don't  use  their  religion  to  coerce  others,  or 
attempt  to  dominate  and  destroy  the  republic  at  the 
behest  of  any  foreign  or  other  tribunal;  and  when 
Knights  of  the  Republic  shall  spring  into  exis- 
tence throughout  the  whole  country,  as  they  most 
certainly  will,  teaching  patriotism  and  love  of 
country,  and  extending  the  right  hand  of  fellowship 
and  good  will  to  all  nationalities,  irrespective  of 
race  or  creed,  with  "  My  country,  first,  last,  and 
always  '  inscribed  on  its  banners,  then  will  the 
nation  come  into  its  own,  and  the  prayers  and 
labors  of  the  founders  of  our  republic  be  fully 
answered  and  understood. 


MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE 

HAS  not  the  day  gone  by  when  writings  of  the 
clergy    made    centuries    ago    to    control 
women,  and  through  them  the  human 
race,  carry  force  with  the  enlightened  in- 
telligence  of  the  twentieth   century,  though   still 
holding    the    ignorant     masses    in    mental     and 
spiritual  bondage  ?     Indissoluble  marriage  is  the 
offspring,  doctrine,  and   practice    of  the   Roman 
Catholic  Church.     This  assumption  of  dominion 
over  the  conjugal  relations  of  the  human  race  and 
making  marriage   a  sacrament   (an  invention   of 
bishops  centuries  ago)  was  the  work  of  a  few  men, 
the  then  managers  of  what  is  known  as  the  church. 
This  organization  says,  "  Sacraments  were  insti- 
tuted by  Jesus  Christ,  and  if  any  one  denies  mar- 
riage is  not  one  of  the  seven  sacraments  let  him 
be    accursed."     Also,   that  Jesus    said,     :  Whoso 
shall  dismiss  his  wife   and  marry   another  com- 
mitteth  adultery."     It  also  represents  Jesus  Christ 
as  "  both  God  and  man;  also  the  Son  of  God,  born 
of  a  virgin,"  to  be  sacrificed  because  Eve  had  eaten 
an  apple,  and  the  eating  of  that  apple  damns  all 
mankind.     These,  and  other  similar  stories,  and 
it  is  presumed  one  is  as  true  as  the  other,  are  here 
introduced  only  to  show  the  devices  of  the  church, 
through  its  managers  at  Rome,  to  secure  absolute 
control  and  mastery  over  the  lives  of  women  by 

235 


236  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

and  through  certain  ceremonies  and  biblical  teach- 


ings. 


In  the  middle  ages  the  clergy  managed  to 
wrest  marriage  from  the  civil  power,  and  hence- 
forth secured  control  of  the  child  when  born, 
married,  buried,  and  afterwards,  as  now,  money  to 
get  her  out  of  purgatory  (the  gold  mine  of  priests), 
through  which  avarice  in  the  last  twelve  hundred 
years  the  wealth,  power,  and  authority  of  church 
functionaries  over  women  has  enormously  in- 
creased. In  other  words,  a  woman  couldn't  enter  life, 
live,  nor  depart  without  paying  the  clergy.  The 
church  soon  recognized  the  power  and  authority  it 
would  derive  over  its  votaries  to  decide  as  to  mar- 
riage and  deny  the  right  of  divorce.  Too  ignorant, 
or  unable  to  resent,  its  followers  soon  became  the 
victims  of  mental  and  spiritual  slavery;  hence  the 
continued  audacity  of  the  clergy  in  claiming  author- 
ity and  holding  tyrannical  sway  over  its  followers. 

For  this  unwarranted  interference  in  the  lives 
and  homes  of  our  people  in  the  matter  of  mar- 
riage and  divorce  certain  Episcopal  Protestant 
clergymen  now  join  hands  with  the  Roman 
Catholics.  Of  these  conspirators  against  mental 
and  spiritual  freedom  the  latter  to  a  certain  degree 
are  the  less  responsible,  as  they  are  obliged  to  obey 
orders  from  Rome,  from  whence  come  their  com- 
missions, or  they  lose  their  positions,  authority,  and 
emoluments;  and  so  it  must  continue  until  the 
masses  are  educated,  and  have  no  further  use  of 
religious  teachers  who  come  in  clerical  garb,  with 
divinity  school  diploma,  and  with  sanctimonious 


Marriage  and  Divorce  237 

air  claim,  as  representatives  of  God,  supervision 
over  the  lives  and  affections  of  men  and  women. 
Is  not  the  allowing;  such  claims  a  constant  menace 
to  the  state  and  nation  ?  And  is  it  from  personal 
experience  that  these  clericals  presume  to  contest 
the  human  rights  of  people  as  learned,  and  possibly 
more  valuable  as  citizens  to  the  community  than 
themselves;  or  is  it  that  they  think  their  position 
impregnable  behind  certain  quotations  from  the 
Bible,  the  inspired  authorship  and  accuracy  of 
statement  of  which  are  proven  unworthy  of  serious 
consideration,  much  less  belief,  by  scholars  of 
scientific  attainment,  whose  sole  purpose  is  to  en- 
lighten the  world,  irrespective  of  creeds  and  dog- 
mas. Is  not  their  unbiased  interpretation  of 
the  scriptures  concerning  marriage  and  divorce 
of  equal  value  to  those  whose  teachings  and 
understanding  are  obscured  with  tradition  and  doc- 
trinal  teachings,  who  believe  in  a  religion  of  author- 
ity, who  teach  as  they  are  commanded,  are  not 
allowed  individual  opinion,  much  less  to  express  it, 
and  who  are  well  aware  that  the  claim  of  indis- 
soluble marriage,  and  no  divorce  (the  latter  with 
specified  conditions)  is  one  of  the  citadels  of  the 
church,  to  be  asserted  and  maintained  at  any 
and  all  hazards.  Is  it  not  passing  strange  that  in 
this  matter  of  marriage  and  divorce  clericals  should 
assume  dominion  over  morality  and  deny  the  right 
of  any  one  but  themselves  individual  judgment 
and  interpretation  of  the  scriptures,  and,  as  with 
Huxley,  are  we  to  consider  Episcopal  and  Catholic 
Ecclesiasticism  as  "  that  vigorous  and  consistent 


238  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

enemy  of  the  highest  intellectual,  moral,  and  social 
life  of  mankind,"  or  with  Buckle,  "  that  the  people 
in  Scotland  were  awed  by  a  few  noisy  and  ignorant 
preachers  to  whom  they  allowed  a  license,  and 
yielded  a  submission  disgraceful  to  the  age  and  in- 
compatible with  the  commonest  notions  of  liberty  ?" 
Let  us  hope  such  may  not  be  the  case,  and  while 
believing  that  clerical  selfishness,  arrogance,  and 
priestly  oligarchy  threaten  American  religious  and 
civil  liberty,  and  though  differing  with  others  in 
opinion,  it  would  seem  there  is  no  good  reason  why 
discussion  of  the  subject  of  marriage  and  divorce 
should  not  be  had  in  a  friendly  manner,  a  kindly 
spirit,  each  with  respectful  regard  and  toleration 
for  the  opinion  of  those  having  other  beliefs,  and 
equally  sincere  in  expression  and  conclusions. 
It  is  not  to  speak  disrespectfully,  or  to  find  compla- 
cency in  the  struggle  of  the  church  for  supremacy 
over  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  when  we  read  in 
"  a  catechism  of  Christian  doctrine  prepared  by 
order  of  the  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore, 
for  the  use  of  Catholics  in  the  United  States  of 
America,"  that  '  a  Christian  man  and  woman 
cannot  be  united  in  marriage  in  any  other  way 
than  by  the  sacrament  of  matrimony,  because 
Christ  raised  marriage  to  the  dignity  of  a  sacra- 
ment; that  the  bond  of  Christian  marriage  cannot 
be  dissolved  by  any  human  power;  and  that  the 
church  forbids  the  marriage  of  Catholics  with 
persons  who  have  a  different  religion,"  we  cannot 
but  express  surprise  such  claims  should  be  made, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  statute  laws  of  every 


Marriage  and  Divorce  239 

state  provide  who  may  marry,  and  who  may  be 
divorced,  and  that  clergymen  have  no  authority  to 
perform  the  marriage  ceremony  save  under  that 
given  them  by  the  law. 

Of  what  use  to  legislate,  if  a  religious  organiza- 
tion is  allowed  to  invade  the  state,  and  in  defiance  of 
law  attempt  to  prescribe  the  limits  of  its  (state)  juris- 
diction over  the  morals  of  its  citizens ;  and  if  right  for 
one  why  may  not  every  other  religious  organization 
exercise  the  same  right  ?  No,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  the  only  religious  organization  making 
such  claims,  and,  as  the  state  is  the  origin  and  source 
of  all  rights,  is  sovereign,  the  superior  of  every  reli- 
gious or  other  organization ;  its  laws  what  it  declares 
them  to  be,  and  it  alone  determines  the  moral  propri- 
ety of  human  conduct.  It  would  seem  such  claims 
of  the  church  are  not  only  untenable,  but  also  unlaw- 
ful. Does  not  the  exercise  of  power  not  conferred 
by  law  injure  every  man's  liberty  ?  From  expe- 
rience, has  not  divorce  proved  not  only  a  conven- 
ience but  a  necessary  remedy  against  tyranny  of 
all  kinds,  and  is  not  a  bar  to  remarriage  prejudicial 
to  civilization  ?  Does  not  the  prohibition  against 
divorce  except  for  adultery  operate  as  a  premium 
to  commit  the  offense  ?  The  claim  that  marriage  is 
not  a  civil  contract,  that  it  is  of  divine  origin,  is  de- 
creed by  God,  that  commandments  against  divorce 
are  divine,  some  people  think  is  the  sheerest  non- 
sense and  a  priestly  assumption.  Were  not  mar- 
riages made  and  divorces  obtained  centuries  before 
Christ  or  priests  were  born  ?  The  marriage  cere- 
mony was  not  solemnized  in  church  as  a  religious 


240  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

rite  until  A.D.  1198  (before  then  it  was  viewed  as  a 
civil  contract) ,  and  was  not  considered  a  sacrament 
until  1442.  Cardinal  Gibbons,  who  is  always  inter- 
esting, and  for  whom  I  have  great  respect,  at  Balti- 
more, Maryland,  July  14,  is  reported  to  have  said: 
"  Mr.  Justice  Brown,  while  referring  to  myself  in 
kind  and  courteous  language  takes  exception  to  my 
views  on  divorce  and  remarriage,  and  says  '  that 
Christ  was  an  idealist,  whose  sentiments,  while 
suitable  to  less  favored  times  and  circumstances 
are  not  adapted  to  this  enlightened  age.'  In 
reply,  there  is  no  subject  Christ  teaches  more  fully 
and  clearly  than  the  question  of  marriage,  which  is 
the  very  foundation  stone  of  our  family  and  social 
life."  This  leads  one  to  inquire  how  many  founda- 
tion stones  cardinals,  bishops,  priests,  and  nuns 
have  ever  laid,  why  forbidden  to  marry,  and  by 
what  authority,  and  why  our  government  should 
tolerate  the  exercise  of  authority  over  our  citizens 
by  any  foreign  power  whether  under  the  guise  of 
religion  or  otherwise  ?  The  cardinal  further  says : 
"  In  three  of  the  gospels  Christ  proclaims  the  unity 
of  marriage  and  permits  separation  of  a  married 
couple  only  in  one  case.  I  don't  see  why  a  law 
which  has  been  enforced  in  every  country  where 
Christianity  dominates  should  be  considered  ob- 
solete or  impracticable  in  the  United  States." 
One  reason  is  that  some  people  think  the  fulness  of 
time  proves  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  to  be 
impositions,  and  the  glaring  contradictions  of 
the  New  Testament  are  sufficient  to  show  the  story 
of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  many  reputed  sayings  to  be 


Marriage  and  Divorce  241 

false  and  misleading;  and  has  not  the  time  arrived 
when  the  claim  that  churches  (ministers)  have  the 
final  and  absolute  truth  about  the  Bible  is  to  be 
repudiated,  and  the  claimed  divine  rights  over 
divorce  and  remarriage  discredited  and  denounced  ? 
Ever  busy  in  strangling  thought,  has  not  the  church 
throughout  the  centuries  been  an  obstacle  of 
progress  ? 

Let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  an  interesting 
paper  by  Cardinal  Gibbons  in  the  May  number  of 
the  Century  Magazine,  and  note  his  views,  seriatim: 
"  In  reply,  you  speak  of  '  the  all-seeing  eye '  of  God, 
and  of  rewards  from  God."  As  no  one  can  even 
comprehend  Almighty  God,  much  less  know  any- 
thing about  him,  or  have  any  authority  to  speak 
for  him,  is  not  such  a  religious  pretension  born  of 
the  dark  ages,  a  habit  of  church  dignitaries,  and  not 
in  keeping  with  the  enlightened  intelligence  of  this 
century  ?  If  not  married,  how  can  you  know  any- 
thing of  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  a  married  life,  or  of 
living  with  a  woman  whom  you  have  helped  to  make  a 
hell  on  earth  ?  If  the  latter,  would  not  your  religion, 
viz.  that  you  should  not  be  allowed  to  separate,  or 
to  remarry  the  one  you  really  loved,  be  good  for  you, 
and  wouldn't  you  then  be  a  wiser  man,  with  greater 
sympathy  for  all  God's  children,  and  less  enthusi- 
astic for  "  church  '  laws  and  requirements  ? 
You  say,  ' '  For  if  the  sanctity  and  indissolubility 
of  marriage  don't  constitute  a  cardinal  principle  of 
Christianity  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know  what  does." 
There  are  others  who  think  it  has  as  much  to  do 
with  Christianity  as  with  any  other  religion,  viz. 
Nothing!    You  say,  "By  the  law  of  God  the  bond 


242  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

uniting  husband  and  wife  can  only  be  dissolved 
by  death;  no  earthly  sword  can  sever  the  nuptial 
knot  which  the  Lord  has  tied,  for  what  God  hath 
joined  together  let  not  man  put  asunder."  Why 
this  professed  knowledge  of  God,  and  pretended 
authority  to  speak  for  him  ?  Was  not  the  ecclesi- 
astical law  referred  to  made  by  cardinals  and 
bishops  for  their  worldly  and  pecuniary  benefit, 
and  have  they  not  well  profited  by  it?  Whom 
God  joins  no  man  can  put  asunder,  but  whom 
priests  join  God  often  puts  asunder,  which  leads 
a  doubt  as  to  your  credentials  to  act  as  the  mouth- 
piece of  God.  You  say,  "  The  Evangelists  'pro- 
claim the  indissolubility  of  marriage  and  forbid  a 
wedded  person  to  engage  in  second  wedlock  during 
the  life  of  his  spouse."  As  is  well  known,  in  the 
opinion  of  unprejudiced  and  careful  readers  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  alleged  writings  of  the  four  Evan- 
gelists, composed  long  after  the  times  of  the  apostles, 
are  incontestably  proven  to  be  the  work  of  others 
than  those  to  whom  ascribed;  unreliable,  full  of 
mistakes,  the  work  of  obscure  and  designing  men. 
As  such,  little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  them. 
Besides,  this  age  proclaims  contrary  to  the  Evan- 
gelists. 

The  cardinal  says  further,  "  Our  Saviour 
emphatically  declares  the  nuptial  bond  is  ratified 
by  God  himself;  and  hence  that  no  man,  nor  any 
legislation  framed  by  men,  can  validly  dissolve  the 
contract."  That  Christ  or  anybody  else  ever  saw, 
had  any  talk  with,  knew  anything  about,  or  could 
even  comprehend  Almighty  God,  is  —  hardly 
satisfying  to  any  man  or  woman  who   has  care- 


Marriage  and  Divorce  243 

fully  read  the  Scriptures,  and  why  the  statement, 
"  that  our  Saviour  declares  the  nuptial  bond  is 
ratified  by  God  himself,"  a  catechism  of  Christian 
doctrine  already  referred  to,  says,  page  9,  '  the 
three  divine  persons  (Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost) 
are  equal  in  all  things,  are  one  and  the  same  God, 
having  one  and  the  same  divine  nature  and  sub- 
stance." Since  he  is  God  where  then  to  go  for  a  rat- 
ifier  other  than  to  himself;  and  thus,  to  sink  further 
into  the  mind  of  the  child  the  fatal  shaft  that  God 
Almighty  ratifies  the  nuptial  bond,  and  hence  no  leg- 
islation can  dissolve  it.  Further  on  the  catechism 
says,  ' '  We  cannot  fully  understand  how  the  three 
divine  persons  are  one  and  the  same  God,  because 
this  is  a  mystery,  and  that  a  mystery  is  a  truth  which 
we  cannot  fully  understand."  Thus  are  the  minds 
of  children  at  an  early  age  impregnated  with  teach- 
ings calculated  to  hold  them  in  spiritual  bondage 
to  their  religious  superiors.  The  Cardinal  further 
says,  "  The  Catholic  Church,  following  the  light  of 
the  gospel,  forbids  a  divorced  man  to  enter  into 
second  espousals  during  the  life  of  his  former 
partner."  Was  not  "  the  light  of  the  gospel  "  in 
this  instance  the  edict  of  bishops  and  prelates  who 
framed  that  writing,  and  through  it  sought  to  ob- 
tain further  hold  on  mankind  through  woman,  the 
church  has  ever  planned  and  contrived  to  keep  in 
mental  and  spiritual  bondage?  And  further,  the 
Cardinal  says,  "  To  Christian  wives  and  mothers, 
you  are  especially  indebted  for  your  liberty  to  the 
popes,  who  rose  up  in  the  majesty  of  their  spiritual 
power  to   vindicate   the   rights   of  injured   wives 


244  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

against  the  lustful  tyranny  of  their  husbands." 
Those  who  have  read  the  lives  of  popes  can  hardly 
concur  in  this  statement.  Beginning  with  Pope 
Boniface  III,  A.D.  606,  who  obtained  ecclesiastical 
supremacy  through  Phocas,  who  murdered  the 
Emperor  Mauritius  and  all  his  family,  down  to  the 
eighteenth  century,  popes,  with  few  exceptions, 
were  a  monumental  success,  but  not  in  the  direction 
above  referred  to,  and  the  least  said  of  them  the 
better.*  Further,  the  Cardinal  says:  "  If  ministers 
and  magistrates  would  take  the  high  stand  of 
Catholic  priests,  refusing  to  marry  any  but  those 
they  know  never  to  have  been  married  before,  the 
solution  of  the  difficulty  would  be  near  at  hand." 
As  to  the  "high  stand"  referred  to,  Baroness  Von 
Zedtwitz  (nee  Caldwell),  already  referred  to, 
formerly  a  Catholic,  says,  in  a  book  entitled  "  The 
Double  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Rome,"  '  with 
the  exoteric  (for  the  sheep)  doctrines  the  church 
finds  means  to  defend  itself  against  attack,  and 
retreats  always  behind  the  bulwarks  of  Christian 
ethics.  It  proclaims  charity,  sincerity,  justice, 
altruism,  professes  from  the  pulpit  the  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thus  deludes  its  adversaries  who 
fall  back  disheartened,  and  abandon  a  systematic 
attack.  It  will  scarcely  be  maintained  by  the  most 
partisan  Roman  Catholic  that  the  obligations 
placed  on  the  priesthood  are  never  violated.  It 
would  be  preposterous  to  assume,  even  lacking 
positive  proof  to  the  contrary,  which,  however,  is 

*See  "  American  Text  Book  of  Popery,"  p.  115.     Griffith  &  Simon. 
Philadelphia.     Robert  Carter,  New  York,  1847. 


Marriage  and  Divorce  245 

abundant,  that  all  members  of  the  Roman  clergy 
and  hierarchy  lead  that  life  of  continency  and  purity 
which  should  be  the  underlying  spirit  of  their 
celibate  law.  The  church  imposes  on  all  its  clergy 
alike,  a  law  beyond  the  power  of  universal  obser- 
vance unless  accepted  in  its  broadest  interpretation, 
and  has  no  intention  of  interpreting  this  law  so 
strictly  in  its  general  application.  Besides,  the 
vow  of  celibacy  is  the  vow  of  chastity.  On  all 
points  of  conduct  the  clergy  are  reprimanded  in 
proportion  to  the  scandal  which  they  have  caused 
and  not  at  all  for  the  act,  per  se.  Because  of  her 
love  of  power  the  church  applies  all  her  administra- 
tive skill  to  conceal  from  the  public  the  dire  results 
of  her  inexorable  policy  in  this  respect."  According 
to  Celeot,  "too  great  severity  should  not  be  applied 
to  the  clergy,  as  there  never  can  be  too  many 
priests,  as  it  promotes  her  earthly  power  through 
the  power  conferred  on  the  priests  at  ordination." 
Let  us  hope  the  solution  is  near  at  hand,  that. the 
church  does  not  juggle  with  Christian  doctrines  as 
it  suits  its  purpose,  that  ecclesiasticism  in  state 
matters  always  has  not  meant  what  it  is,  viz. 
tyranny.  In  spite  of  the  Pope's  Bull  ' '  declaring 
all  marriages  without  a  Roman  priest's  celebration, 
null  and  void,"  the  state  still  survives,  and  many  of 
its  inhabitants  are  happy  and  in  the  enjoyment  of 
good  health  without  the  kindly  offices  of  the  clergy. 


Practical  Examples 

In  England,  five  years  after  the  death  of  his 
wife,  a  gentleman  wished  to  marry  his  deceased 
wife's  sister,  whom  he  had  known  from  boyhood, 
and  dearly  loved.  For  many  years  the  clericals 
have  opposed  the  creation  of  any  law  making  pos- 
sible such  marriage;  and  on  July  8,  by  a  vote 
of  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  to  twenty-four  the 
church  council  attended  by  bishops,  clergy,  and 
laymen  of  the  Church  of  England  declared,  in  spite 
of  public  opinion,  "  that  marriage  to  a  deceased 
wife's  sister  was  contrary  to  the  moral  rules  of  the 
church  and  to  the  principles  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
that  the  use  of  the  prayer-book  in  the  service 
solemnizing  such  marriages  was  reprobated  in  the 
strongest  terms."  September  8,  Rome  says, 
"  After  Easter  next,  such  marriages  in  Protestant 
churches,  or  registry  offices  will  be  for  Catholics 
not  only  sinful,  but  invalid,  and  persons  contracting 
them  will  have  merely  gone  through  an  empty 
ceremony  and  are  no  more  man  and  wife  than  ever 
before."  What  audacity!  and  how  much  longer 
will  English  free  men  and  women  suffer  such  in- 
dignities. An  English  newspaper  says,  "  that  as 
the  result  of  fifteen  years'  experience  as  president 
of  the  British  Divorce  Court,  Lord  Gorell  reported 
last  May  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  that  cheap  and 
secret  divorce  is  the  crying  social  need  of  England. 

246 


Practical  Examples  247 

At  present,  divorce  is  a  luxury  so  expensive  in 
England  that  the  poor  cannot  afford  it."  That  such 
a  state  of  things  is  not  the  millenial  condition  which 
so  many  reformers  crack  it  up  to  be  is  evidently  the 
conclusion  to  which  long  and  close  observation  has 
brought  this  British  judge. 

Can  any  decrees  of  church  join  or  separate  men 
and  women  who  love  each  other,  or  can  any  civil 
law  compel  two  people  loving  each  other  to  ask  per- 
mission of  the  state  or  church  to  love  ?  But  why 
blame  the  clergy  ?  Is  not  their  opinion  of  their  su- 
periority but  a  reflection  of  your  own  ?  Is  it  not 
you  who  have  made  them  believe  they  are  indeed 
the  depositaries  of  spiritual  truths,  that  their 
opinions  and  decisions  are  to  be  respected  and 
heeded;  until  in  time  they  properly  begin  to  think 
so  themselves?  Before  the  civil  war  the  clergy 
could  honestly  easily  prove  from  the  Bible  that 
human  slavery  was  right,  and  did  so.  After  the 
war,  they  as  honestly  and  easily  proved  it  was 
wrong,  and  did  so.  Why  blame  them?  They 
preach  what  they  believe,  what  you  want,  and 
when  you  don't  like  what  they  say  they  have  to 
move  on.  With  the  Catholics,  and  some  Episco- 
palians, they  take  the  food  set  before  them,  and 
murmur  not;  or  at  least  not  loud  enough  to  be 
heard.  But  in  countenancing  the  assumption  of 
dominion  over  morality  by  a  small  body  of  clericals, 
are  you  not  openly  inviting  mental  and  spiritual 
slavery,  when  you  remember  that  the  domain  of 
morals  carries  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  acts  of 
your   daily   life,   that   it   is   one   of  the   strongest 


248  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

citadels  of  the  church,  through  which  it  has 
managed  for  centuries  to  hold  the  world  in  mental 
and  spiritual  bondage  ? 

To  set  at  rest  all  contention  and  avoid  future 
conflict  why  shouldn't  the  state  relieve  the  clergy  of 
the  function  of  performing  marriages  ?  In  Mexico, 
after  centuries  of  experience  with  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  the  government  now  compels 
couples  to  be  married  by  an  officer  of  the  state 
authorized  by  law  to  perform  such  services.  The 
priest's  service,  if  employed,  is  illegal  unless  prece- 
ded by  the  civil  service,  all  necessary  papers  being 
issued  at  cost.  Would  not  such  provision  remove 
all  interference  or  attempt  to  regulate  or  control 
marriage  and  divorce  on  the  part  of  any  religious 
organization?  If  matrimony  is  a  civil  contract, 
a  mutual  obligation  between  the  parties  as  some 
people  are  inclined  to  believe,  should  it  not  be  free, 
entering  in,  or  withdrawing  from  it,  as  in  the  mak- 
ing of  any  other  contract;  and  why  should  not  the 
community  agree  and  allow  that,  as  is  sometimes 
the  case  married  people  find  they  are  the  victims 
of  an  awful  mistake  they  should  rectify  it  soon  as 
possible.  What  is  to  be  thought  of  a  Christianity 
that  places  a  penalty  on  affection  ?  Do  the  defects 
of  marriage  lie  in  divorce,  or  the  unhappy  causes, 
that  compel  so  many  to  seek  it;  and  who,  if  not 
these  women,  have  a  right  to  our  sympathy  and 
assistance  when  the  church  frowns  and  friends 
are  few  ? 

^  The  following  experience  of  a  couple  happily 
married  may  prove  interesting  as  well  as  instructive. 


Practical  Examples  249 

"  We  told  the  minister  to  omit  everything 
except  the  pledges  to  each  other  that  we  should  be 
faithful,  and  cherish  and  love,  in  sickness  or  health, 
until  death  should  us  part.  After  the  ceremony 
we  went  for  a  walk,  and  sat  on  the  grass,  and  with 
God  as  a  witness  we  made  our  oral  marriage  con- 
tract, which  was  the  result  of  our  observations. 
We  agreed  we  must  bear  and  forbear;  that  what- 
ever was  right  for  one  was  right  for  the  other;  that 
we  should  have  no  companions  that  were  not  con- 
genial to  both ;  that  if  we  quarrelled  we  must  make 
up  before  going  to  sleep,  no  matter  what  the  cost 
to  our  pride;  that  we  should  have  absolutely  no 
secrets  from  one  another;  that  our  liberties  should 
be  governed  by  no  rules,  but  that  we  should  observe 
wherein  we  had  a  tendency  to  criticise  other 
married  people  and  profit  by  our  observations;  that 
it  was  no  sin  to  express  our  affection  to  each  other, 
and  that  we  should  be  jealous  of  an  opportunity  01 
reminding  each  other  of  this  agreement  in  any  of  its 
details/* 


CONCLUSION 

IT  now  becomes  the  duty  of  our  state  to  enact 
laws  (for  self-preservation  alone)  as  to  property 
or  other  qualification  for  its  ignorant  voters,  as 
have  other  states  and  countries,  or  in  a  few 
years  its  government  will  be  in  other  hands.     Also, 
to  consider  the  enactment  of  laws  similar  to  the 
following,  which  some  countries,  ruled    by  Rome 
for  centuries,  but  now  free  from  its  power,  found 
necessary    to    enact    for    self-preservation,    viz.: 
(1)  The  use  of  church  bells  is  restricted  to  calling 
the  people  to  religious  work;   (2)  clerical  vestments 
are  forbidden  in  the  streets;   (3)  religious    proces- 
sions are  strictly  forbidden;   (4)  pulpit  discourses 
advising  disobedience  to  the  laws  are  forbidden; 
(5)  gifts  of  real  estate  to  religious  institutions  are 
unlawful  unless  designed  exclusively  for  the  insti- 
tution;    (6)   abrogation  of  law  permitting  any  re- 
ligious  associations   to    acquire   landed  property; 
(7)   the  state  does  not  recognize   monastic   orders 
nor  permit  their  establishment.     Monks  shall  be 
made  to  earn  their  own  living.     The  association 
of  sisters  of  charity  is  unlawful  and  should  be  sup- 
pressed in  the  republic,  and  Jesuits  are  expelled 
and  may  not  return.     (In  Mexico  it  was  found  the 
ultimate  object  of  sisterhoods  was  not  religion,  but, 
instead,  the  subjugation  of  the  people  to  a  foreign 
despotism    that    has   its   seat  at  Rome.     Eleven 

250 


Conclusion  251 

hundred   and   thirty  Jesuits  were   expelled    from 
Mexico    in    1870,  many^of    whom^are    in    our 
country,  of  which  the  people  of  the  United  States 
should  take  due  notice.)      (8)   Matrimony  is  a  civil 
contract,  and  is  to  be  duly  registered:     religious 
service  may  be  added;  (9)  cemeteries  are  under 
civil  inspection,  and  open  for  burial  of  all  classes 
and    creeds,     (10)     no    one    can    sign    away    his 
liberty  by  contract  or  religious  vow;  (11)  the  aboli- 
tion of  censorship  of  books;  (12)  education  in  the 
public  schools  is  free  and  compulsory.     The  gov- 
ernment should  decree,  declaring  all  briefs,  bulls, 
and  rescripts  from  the  court  of  Rome  void   in  the 
United  States,  unless  sanctioned  by  the  government. 
No  foreign  power  should  be  allowed  to  busy  itself 
with  the  education  of  our  children.     Education  in 
the  public  schools  should  be  free  and  compulsory 
for  all      Parochial  schools  should  be  disbanded. 
No  religious  services  in  public  schools  should  be 
allowed,    and   the    schools    should   be   absolutely 
free  from  Protestant  or  Roman  Catholic  influences; 
sisters    of    charity,    or   women    representing    any 
religious   organization    may    not    be    allowed    to 
enter  public   buildings  or   stand   outside  of    any 
buildings   for   the   purpose    of    collecting    money 
from   its   followers,  violation    of    such  law  when 
enacted  to  be  punishable  by  fine  or  imprisonment, 
or  both.    The  confessional,  being  the  chief  means 
by  which  the  church  holds  the  minds  and  actions 
of  her  devotees  at  her  disposal,  and  the  most  per- 
fect scheme  the  ingenuity  of  man  could  devise  for 
turning  men  and  women  into  the  degraded  tools 
of  a  rapacious  and  designing  power,  and  through 


252  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

which  the  "  system  "  is  enabled  to  inform  itself  of 
whatever  transpires  in  every  household  where  its 
followers  reside,  or  have  business  relations,  make 
it  the  best  spy  system  in  the  world.  This  con- 
stitutes one  of  the  principal  dangers  that  confront 
the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  togetherwith  "  purgatory," 
the  gold  mine  of  priests,  who,  through  the  false 
claims  that  they  can  rescue  souls  from  purgatory, 
and  have  the  keys  of  heaven  and  hell,  in  return 
for  such  promises  receive  enormous  sums  of 
money  from  their  superstitious  and  ignorant  fol- 
lowers. These  channels,  and  the  sale  of  indul- 
gences, together  with  the  large  amounts  of  money 
collected  by  the  sisters  of  charity,  have  brought 
into  the  coffers  of  the  ' '  system  ' '  such  enormous 
amounts  of  money  that  its  managers  are  daily  be- 
coming more  audacious  in  asserting  the  claims  of 
what  is  called  the  church,  and  enables  them  to 
support  an  increasing  army  of  priests  and  sisters 
of  charity  now  seen  on  our  streets  engaged  in  their 
respective  avocations.  The  above  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  religion,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
is  the  work  of  men  in  the  remote  past  scheming 
for  money,  power,  and  personal  aggrandizement, 
which  is  handed  down  to  this  generation  :•  as  a 
good  paying  business,  and  should  be  viewed  from 
this  standpoint  only  in  determining  what  measures 
are  to  be  taken  for  its  suppression  and  oblitera- 
tion. The  church  now  attempts  through  one  of 
it  dignitaries  to  read  lectures  to  the  state,  which 
makes  its  own  laws,  talks  of  resisting  the  state  if  it 
interferes    in  what  he  is  pleased  to  call  its  "  God- 


Conclusion  253 

given  rights,"  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  our  country  throws  down  this  ultimatum,  the 
first  rebellious  steps  of  a  plan  smouldering  for 
years  in  the  breast  of  Rome  and  now  carried  into 
execution  by  its  representatives  in  this  country. 
What  is  the  new  doctrine  that  these  apostles  are  to 
preach  to  us  ?  This  unholy  alliance;  for  the  purpose 
among  other  things  of  breaking  down  the  public 
school  system,  the  principles  and  policies  of  the 
state,  the  cherished  ideals  of  a  free  people,  which 
stand  for  American  independence,  and  repudiation 
of  imperialism  and  Roman  despotism.  In  vain 
you  cry  for  peace.  It  is  idle  to  attempt  evading 
the  issue;  silence  means  cowardice.  What  step 
will  you  require  of  the  state  to  educate  its  women, 
whose  withdrawal  from  the  clergy  to  the  extent 
men  have  now  done,  the  "  faith,"  would  in  a  single 
decade  find  itself  on  its  last  legs  marching  rapidly 
down  hill  to  its  grave.  Once  let  the  nature  of  the 
confessional  and  the  true  history  of  convents  and 
monasteries  be  known  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  and  the  righteous  indignation  of  an  outraged 
public  would  quickly  blast  this  den  of  incipient 
sacerdotalism.  If  Rome's  morale  be  higher  than 
it  was  in  the  fourteenth  century  it  is  because  her 
hand  is  forced  by  Protestantism.  We  not  only 
want  more  plain  talk  and  less  fireworks,  but  action 
is  now  required.  The  same  practices,  the  same 
money  gatherers  will  go  right  on  the  same  as  before 
until,  like  Mexico  and  France,  the  people  will  rise 
up  in  their  might  and  force  this  money  getting 
organization  to  the  wall,  compel  obedience  to  the 


254  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

laws,  take  the  education  of  the  children  into  their 
own  hands,  and,  as  soon  as  may  be,  release  the 
thousands  of  women  now  held  in  mental  and 
spiritual  bondage,  on  whose  education  and  en- 
lightenment the  nation  now  and  in  the  future 
depends. 

The  world  awaits  men  and  women  who  are  not 
afraid  to  speak  and  defend  the  truth.  To  all  such, 
my  felicitations. 


Definition  of  Words  and   Terms 
Words  in  parenthesis  by  author: 

Absolution.     A  remission  of  sin  to  one  who  makes  confession. 

A  Deputy  of  Christ.     (Claimed.) 

Apochryphal.    Books  whose  authenticity  as  inspired  writings 

are  not  admitted. 
Archbishop.     A  chief  of  bishops. 
Auricular  confession.     Told  in  the  ear   (a  most  detestable 

method  to  control  ignorant  men  and  women) . 
Bishop.     A  spiritual  director  in  a  diocese. 
Bulls.     Orders  from  the  pope. 
Canonical.     (Obedience.)     Submission    to    orders    of     the 

church. 
Canonization.     Placing  name  of  deceased  person  in  catalog 

of  saints. 
Cardinal.     A  superior  prelate  of  the  Sacred  College,  first 

known  in  Rome  in  853. 
Catholic.     Universal:  word  adopted  in  A.D.  380. 
Consistory.     College  of  cardinals  at  Rome. 
Dispensations.     Dispensing  with  a  law  of  the  church:     as 

special  permission  to  marry,  etc. 
Ecclesiastical.     Pertaining  to  the  church. 
Encyclical.     A  circular  letter  of  the  pope  to  his  followers. 
Extreme  unction.     Annointing  in  last  hours  (to  wipe  away 

sins) . 
Faith.     Faith  in  Roman  Catholic  Church  means  assent  to 

dogmas.  Another  definition  is  personal  trust  in  Christ: 
Holy  Apostolic  See.     A  seat  governed  by  an  apostle  (apostle 

means  one  who  imitates  the  apostles  by  abstaining  from 

marriage,  wine,  flesh). 

255 


%56  The  Roman  Catholic  Church 

Holy  Catholic  Church.  Religious  term  claimed  exclusively 
by  the  Roman  Church. 

„       ,  „        [  The  seat  of  the  Roman  pontiff. 
Papal  bee.    ) 

Holy  Ghost.     The  third  person  of  the  Trinity. 

Holy.     Hallowed,  sacred. 

Holy  Water.     Blessed  by  the  priest  for  holy  purposes. 

Indulgences.  Remission  of  punishment  to  save  sinners  from 
purgatory. 

Interdict.  To  forbid  by  order  a  layman  from  attending 
divine  service,  etc. 

Masses.  A  sacrifice  for  pardon  of  all  sins  said  in  the  Latin 
tongue,  and  low  voice. 

Morals.  Practice  of  the  duties  of  life  (ninety-five  per  cent  of 
acts  in  daily  life  come  under  the  head  of  morals). 

Pall.     A  scarf  composed  of  white  wool. 

Papist.     A  Roman  Catholic. 

"  Peter's  Pence."  Money  taken  to  Rome  every  year  to  the 
pope  from  the  faithful.  (The  second  largest  donation  is 
said  to  come  from  the  poor  people  of  the  United  States.) 

Patriarch.     A  superior  to  the  order  of  archbishop. 

Papal  hierarchy.  A  body  of  clericals  intrusted  with  church 
government  at  Rome. 

Penance.  To  suffer  pain.  All  sins  must  be  confessed  se- 
cretly to  the  priest. 

Pope.     Head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

Prelate.     A  clergyman  of  a  superior  order. 

Purgatory.    A  place  of  torment  (claimed  to  exist  after  death) . 

Plenary  Indulgence.     Entire  remission  of  sins. 

Priest.     A  minister. 

Roman  Curia.     An  assembly  of  prelates  at  Rome. 

Roman  Pontiff.     The  pope. 

Sacrament.     A  religious  ordinance. 

Sacramental  garments.  Priestly  garments,  to  give  exterior 
pomp,  and  attract  superstitious  veneration. 


Definition  of  Words  and  Terms  257 

Sacraments.  Confirmation,  penance,  holy  orders,  holy  euchar- 
ist,  matrimony,  extreme  unction. 

Sovereign  power.     Supreme  power. 

Sovereign  state.  A  state  which  administers  its  own  govern- 
ment, and  is  not  subject  to  another  power. 

Temporal  power.     Civil  power,  as  opposed  to  ecclesiastical. 

Vatican.     The  residence  of  the  pope. 

Vicar  of  Christ.  The  title  was  originally  given  by  Henry 
VIII  the  better  to  regulate  church  affairs. 

Vicar  of  Christ.     A  deputy  of  Christ  (claimed) . 

Vicar  of  God.     A  deputy  of  God  (claimed) . 

Vicegerent  of  God.  One  exercising  delegated  authority 
(claimed) . 


BRITTLE  DO  NOT 


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0315023990 


936.75 


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